ORLANDO, Fla. — A NASA change of guard took place the morning of Jan. 11 when the space weather agency officially welcomed its new chief scientist and climate adviser.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson welcomed Katherine Calvin in a press call to the dual leadership role in the agency after the agency announced her arrival to the agency Jan. 10.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Kate to the NASA family, where she will bring her expertise in integrated human-Earth system modeling to help ensure the Biden administration has the data needed to achieve the critical goal of protecting our planet,” Nelson said.
Calvin is taking control from both Jim Green, who held the title of NASA’s chief scientist for 40 years, and Gavin Schmidt, who served as climate adviser after the role was created in February 2021 as part of President Joe Biden’s climate science objectives. Schmidt will maintain his role as director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, NASA said in a press release.
As chief scientist, Calvin will advise NASA programs on future projects and science policy, Nelson said.
“The chief science role has been to integrate science across the agency and since we have a handful of mission directorates to harmonize that science activity in and among them. Her experience makes her especially qualified for this position,” Nelson said.
Calvin’s resume includes work in math, computer, science and engineering as well as experience as an Earth scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Joint Global Change Research Institute in Maryland where she researched the relationships between human and Earth systems. She also spent time analyzing Earth systems with the Department of Energy.
“I’m looking forward to helping communicate and advance all of NASA’s science going forward,” Calvin said.
Busy year planned
As chief scientist, Calvin will more than likely have her hands full as NASA already has a busy year planned including the launch of project CAPSTONE in March from New Zealand, which is an experiment testing out methods of creating a lunar orbiting space station.
It also has a crew shift coming up with the International Space Station, which includes Jessica Watkins, who will soon be the first Black woman to join the ISS as a full-time crew member. And this fall, NASA will attempt to redirect the course of an asteroid with its DART mission.
But perhaps the most anticipated project could become reality this spring, with the launch of Artemis I from Kennedy Space Center. The uncrewed mission to orbit the moon has faced many delays, but is part of NASA’s plans to eventually return humans, including the first woman, to the lunar surface.
As the senior climate adviser Calvin is expected to provide recommendations for NASA’s weather-related science division.
Calvin’s role comes with NASA’s sharper focus on climate change and climate-related disasters, which Calvin said is “one of the biggest challenges” facing the world right now. The harder stance on climate research comes off the heels of two years’ worth of Atlantic hurricane seasons observing above-average activity, with 2020 reporting the most named tropical storms on record and 2021 documenting the third most.
Scientists, however, fear Earth is facing a number of climate-related hurdles other than hurricanes, and some of those hurdles could possibly be cleared with the help of current NASA projects, Calvin said.
“My interest is in trying to connect the climate science research with the rest of the research in NASA,” she said. “There are systems onboard the (ISS) which help recycle and reclaim water. Can we think about how to make that useful back on Earth? There’s a lot of communities facing water scarcity today, and that’s expected to increase in the future.”
Nelson expressed his faith in Calvin’s pedigree to lead NASA forward in this expanded role.
