Public Events

Event Description

The Geosciences Department presents AGU College of Fellows Distinguished Lecture Series Speaker Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) to discuss and understand our fragile blue marble: from science to impact. Join us in Science Center Room 1011.Astronaut Alexander Gerst was quoted as saying “It is crystal clear from up here that everything is finite on this little blue marble in a black space, and there is no planet B.” That little blue marble floating in space is the key to us understanding the potential for life elsewhere in the universe. We also have the tremendous capability and responsibility to focus our eyes in the skies downward to understand, predict and manage how life on our planet is changing. This talk will consider how NASA Earth Science and its partners are conceptualizing, building, launching and operating critical assets in space to understand our changing planet and how we use that understanding to advance knowledge of Earth as an integrated system. It will also uncover some of the ways we learn about other planets by looking at our own. Fundamentally, if we can better connect to the pursuit to understanding our fragile blue planet, we can be informed stewards of it for the future. Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum is the Director of the Earth Sciences Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She leads an interdisciplinary team of scientists, technologists and support staff that study the Earth as an integrated system through mission development and implementation, modeling and data analysis. Prior to this role, Dr. Kirschbaum served as Chief of the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard. She also served as the Deputy Project Scientist for Applications for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission and a Disaster Coordinator as part of an agency team. Dr. Kirschbaum’s research focuses on rainfall-triggered landslide hazards, using satellite data to develop models that highlight where and when landslide hazard and exposure may be elevated. She received her B.A. from Princeton University and her Ph.D. at Columbia University.The event is free and open to all members of the Hamilton community.