Julie Rivera Pérez Bridges Business, STEM to ‘Make the Magic Happen’

Senior Resource Analyst Julie Rivera Pérez ensures finances and assets are in place to enable missions’ engineering and science “magic” can happen. As a former intern, she also reaches out to current students to ensure a diverse and inclusive future workforce.

Name: Julie Rivera Pérez
Formal Job Classification: Senior Resources Analyst
Organization: Systems Review Office/Resource Management Office, Office of the Chief Financial Officer (Code 159.2)

What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard?

I work in Goddard’s Systems Review Office (SRO), which plays a critical role in NASA’s mission gate reviews, also known as system review boards (SRBs). As the lead senior resources analyst, I provide financial expertise relating to budget planning and funds execution in support of all life-cycle reviews for Goddard missions. These reviews occur during key milestones in the progression of a mission through the various stages until launch. A mission cannot proceed with its work unless it passes the gate reviews, like the preliminary design review (PDR), critical design review (PDR), system integration review (SIR), operational readiness review (ORR), among others. It is great to support these reviews and make sure that key panel members like engineering, science, cost/schedule, and programmatic subject matter experts are planned for and funded to hold these SRB reviews. It is exciting to be able to contribute to Goddard missions!

What is your educational background?

In 2010, I graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. My major was in human resources, and my minor was in marketing.

Why did you come to Goddard?

I first came to Goddard in 2008, as a summer intern. I will never forget the team of recruiters that visited my university and shared Goddard’s opportunities for business majors. I dreamed to contribute to the NASA mission! I took a chance and signed up to be interviewed. Three months later, I was offered an internship, and here I am, nearly 15 years later and thriving!

Where have you worked at Goddard? What was a pivotal moment for you?

In 2009, I had the opportunity to intern with the Office of Human Capital Management, the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, and the Office of Education.

After graduating in 2010, I joined Goddard as a procurement analyst in the Small Business Office. In 2013, I became the Contracting Officer for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system.

In 2015, I was selected as a participant in the NASA FIRST Program, a very prestigious NASA leadership program, which was pivotal for me. I learned about different roles at NASA including the important roles of business professionals. This inspired me to transition into the world of resources and finance!

In 2017, I became a senior resources analyst for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). My procurement background helped me understand the underlying contractual mechanics in the world of resources. I was very excited to continue to grow in my NASA career! In 2018, I served as a contract resources analyst of the Ground Systems and Missions Operations 2 contract for the Space Science Mission Operations Division. Presently, I serve as the lead senior resources analyst for the Systems Review Office within the Safety and Mission Assurance Business Branch of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO).

It has been an amazing journey! I have had the opportunity to work in multiple flagship missions, mission operations, interagency collaborations, procurement, finance, and resources. I am excited for what the future will bring in my NASA career!

What are your responsibilities in your current role?

My key responsibility is serving as the financial liaison between the Systems Review Office (SRO) and program or project offices. I collaborate with program managers, deputy program managers for resources, and financial managers from other NASA centers to ensure the proper coordination of system review boards’ funding requirements. This includes preparing program, planning, budget, and execution (PPBE) inputs, labor projections, continuing resolution funding requirements, and phasing plans for all SRB missions.

As the SRO lead senior resources analyst, I also oversee the daily functions and activities of the SRO staff members, providing them with appropriate guidance, direction, knowledge sharing, and mentorship.

What are you most thankful about in your career?

I have had many opportunities from the moment I started working at Goddard as an intern. I have always been encouraged to continue growing as a professional through several significant work opportunities. One of them being the NASA FIRST leadership program for the 2015 cohort. It was a joy when I was accepted into this life-changing and unique opportunity! Throughout my career at Goddard, I have learned about many different aspects and the importance of being a business professional to help achieve the NASA mission.

Who is your mentor and what is their advice?

I have had several amazing mentors throughout my career at Goddard. Dan Krieger was key in my recruitment and has always supported me through my journey. Veronica Hill has continuously provided her guidance and wisdom. Janine Dolinka welcomed me to Goddard as my first mentor and further inspired me grow at NASA. Jennifer Perez took me under her wing and taught me the importance and roles of the Small Business Office. Currently, I am under the mentorship of Rich Ryan (deputy program director for business, Mars Sample Return) and Kevin Miller (chief of Resources Management Office). All in all, my mentors have always reminded me to always be my authentic self. It sounds so simple, yet it is such powerful advice. I want to thank each and every one of them for fueling the desire to make a difference for the NASA mission and to continue bringing my talents to the workforce!

What is important to you about your role on the Hispanic Advisory Committee for Employees (HACE)?

A very fulfilling part of the work I do at NASA Goddard is my voluntary service as the co-chair for the Hispanic Advisory Committee for Employees (HACE) resource group. I am in a unique position to provide advice, guidance, and recommendations to center management, the Office of STEM Engagement, and the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity on initiatives regarding recruitment, outreach, retention, cultural awareness, and professional development of minorities and Hispanics at Goddard. I also serve as the recruitment and outreach co-lead for the committee. As co-chair, I am a voice representing the interests of the GSFC Hispanic community.

I also develop key initiatives in student recruitment and outreach to build a pipeline of Hispanic interns for NASA. Every summer, I coordinate intern presentations to center management, as well as provide training to the Hispanic interns on how to write a federal résumé and apply for a federal job within NASA.

It is my wish to pay it forward. I once was an intern. I want to encourage others to join the NASA community and make a positive impact with diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Así Se HACE!

In 2021, you were a panel speaker at the Women of Color conference. What did you talk about?

It was such an honor to be invited as a panel speaker with a financial professional background for a STEM event. I served as a bridge between STEM and the business world and how both come together to make the magic happen. I have a deep understanding of how the business world and the engineering and science come together to bring missions to life. While I may not have a STEM degree, I am a STEM advocate. This event was an opportunity to tell my story as a Hispanic woman in resources and finance working at NASA. As a business professional, it is important that the money and the assets are in place so all the engineering and science can happen. It was equally important to highlight the value of embracing yourself and what you bring you the table because that is where your strength lies and how you can make a difference.

What do you do for fun?

I have a passion for singing! Since my early teens, I studied music and singing at the Music Conservatory of Puerto Rico. In college, I was accepted into the very competitive University of Puerto Rico classical choir. I continued to pursue my love for music through the Goddard Music and Drama Club (MAD). I even starred in two musicals produced by MAD!

I love spending time with my husband and two children, as well as watching movies with family and friends, spending time at the beach, reading, walking, listening to true crime podcasts, and watching the occasional Spanish telenovela.

What is your favorite life quote?

This Gandhi quote speaks to the power of perseverance and means a lot to me: “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words.

Passionate
Creative
Dedicated
Authentic
Leader
Determined

Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.

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President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs observes simulated visuals of an airport and its air traffic, consisting of commercial aircraft and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, at NASA’s FutureFlight Central on Sept. 18, 2024, during a visit to NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. 

FutureFlight Central provides high-fidelity simulation of air traffic management scenarios and is dedicated to solving the present and emerging challenges of the nation’s air traffic management system. President Rinkēvičs and representatives of Latvian business visited Ames to learn about the center’s technical capabilities and areas of research in aeronautics.  

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Arctic Sea Ice Near Historic Low; Antarctic Ice Continues Decline

Arctic sea ice retreated to near-historic lows in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, likely melting to its minimum extent for the year on Sept.11, 2024, according to researchers at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The decline continues the decades-long trend of shrinking and thinning ice cover in the Arctic Ocean.

The amount of frozen seawater in the Arctic fluctuates during the year as the ice thaws and regrows between seasons. Scientists chart these swings to construct a picture of how the Arctic responds  over time to rising air and sea temperatures and longer melting seasons. Over the past 46 years, satellites have observed persistent trends of more melting in the summer and less ice formation in winter.

Tracking sea ice changes in real time has revealed wide-ranging impacts, from losses and changes in polar wildlife habitat to impacts on local communities in the Arctic and international trade routes.

This year, Arctic sea ice shrank to a minimal extent of 1.65 million square miles (4.28 million square kilometers). That’s about 750,000 square miles (1.94 million square kilometers) below the 1981 to 2010 end-of-summer average of 2.4 million square miles (6.22 million square kilometers). The difference in ice cover spans an area larger than the state of Alaska. Sea ice extent is defined as the total area of the ocean with at least 15% ice concentration.

Seventh-Lowest in Satellite Record

This year’s minimum remained above the all-time low of 1.31 million square miles (3.39 million square kilometers) set in September 2012. While sea ice coverage can fluctuate from year to year, it has trended downward since the start of the satellite record for ice in the late 1970s. Since then, the loss of sea ice has been about 30,000 square miles (77,800 square kilometers) per year, according to NSIDC.

Scientists currently measure sea ice extent using data from passive microwave sensors aboard satellites in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, with additional historical data from the Nimbus-7 satellite, jointly operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Today, the overwhelming majority of ice in the Arctic Ocean is thinner, first-year ice, which is less able to survive the warmer months. There is far, far less ice that is three years or older now,

Nathan Kurtz

Chief, NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory

Sea ice is not only shrinking, it’s getting younger, noted Nathan Kurtz, lab chief of NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“Today, the overwhelming majority of ice in the Arctic Ocean is thinner, first-year ice, which is less able to survive the warmer months. There is far, far less ice that is three years or older now,” Kurtz said.

Ice thickness measurements collected with spaceborne altimeters, including NASA’s ICESat and ICESat-2 satellites, have found that much of the oldest, thickest ice has already been lost. New research out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California shows that in the central Arctic, away from the coasts, fall sea ice now hovers around 4.2 feet (1.3 meters) thick, down from a peak of 8.8 feet (2.7 meters) in 1980.

Another Meager Winter Around Antarctica

Sea ice in the southern polar regions of the planet was also low in 2024. Around Antarctica, scientists are tracking near record-low sea ice at a time when it should have been growing extensively during the Southern Hemisphere’s darkest and coldest months.

Ice around the continent is on track to be just over 6.6 million square miles (16.96 million square kilometers). The average maximum extent between 1981 and 2010 was 7.22 million square miles (18.71 million square kilometers).

The meager growth so far in 2024 prolongs a recent downward trend. Prior to 2014, sea ice in the Antarctic was increasing slightly by about 1% per decade. Following a spike in 2014, ice growth has fallen dramatically. Scientists are working to understand the cause of this reversal. The recurring loss hints at a long-term shift in conditions in the Southern Ocean, likely resulting from global climate change. 

“While changes in sea ice have been dramatic in the Arctic over several decades, Antarctic sea ice was relatively stable. But that has changed,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NSIDC. “It appears that global warming has come to the Southern Ocean.”

In both the Arctic and Antarctic, ice loss compounds ice loss. This is due to the fact that while bright sea ice reflects most of the Sun’s energy back to space, open ocean water absorbs 90% of it. With more of the ocean exposed to sunlight, water temperatures rise, further delaying sea ice growth. This cycle of reinforced warming is called ice-albedo feedback.

Overall, the loss of sea ice increases heat in the Arctic, where temperatures have risen about four times the global average, Kurtz said.

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Educational Activities in Space

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Educational Activities in Space

Science in Space: September 2024

As students of all ages returned to school this month, crew members on the International Space Station continue to conduct a variety of educational programs and activities that support learning on the ground. These efforts are part of a wider commitment at NASA to engage, inspire, and attract future generations of explorers and to build a diverse future workforce equipped with skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

One current activity is Robo-Pro Challenge 5, an educational program hosted by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in cooperation with NASA. For the challenge, students create software programs to control NASA’s Astrobee and JAXA’s Internal Ball Camera, using image processing to move the free-flying robots through a series of coordinates to a target point. The challenge helps support computing and coding curricula, and the hands-on experience inspires the study of STEM subjects.

Analyzing DNA in space

Genes in Space is a national contest for students in grades 7 through 12 to design DNA analysis experiments for the space station. It is sponsored by the ISS National Lab and New England Biolabs in collaboration with Boeing and miniPCR bio. There have been more than a dozen contests to date, many producing significant results.

Genes in Space-5 provided proof of concept of simultaneously amplifying multiple DNA sequences in space, expanding the possibilities for in-flight research and health monitoring.

Genes in Space-6 used CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing for the first time in space, using the technique to generate breaks in the DNA of a common yeast, direct a method to repair the breaks, and sequence the patched-up DNA to determine whether its original order was restored.

Genes in Space-9 validated technology used to synthesize proteins without needing living cells. This technique could produce proteins for research, vaccines, and development of diagnostic tests for environmental contaminants and infectious agents. Ultimately, such synthesis also could enable portable, low-cost devices for health monitoring, detection of environmental hazards on Earth and in space, and other applications.

Sending code to space

In addition to the Robo-Pro challenge, several other programs involve student coding. AstroPi, a program from ESA (European Space Agency), uses special computers, one equipped with an infrared camera and the other with a standard visible spectrum camera. European students write programs for the computers that address specific challenges such as measurement and calibration and image processing. One project successfully identified and computed the horizontal wavelengths of atmospheric gravity waves in clouds.

Zero Robotics also is a competition where students write software to control one of the Astrobees, co-led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Innovation Learning Center, and other collaborators. Finalists have their code downloaded to the Astrobee platform and can observe its performance in space.

Students have good “HUNCHes”

High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware, or HUNCH, is a learning program where high school students design and fabricate real-world products for NASA. More than 2,500 students have participated to date, flying some 3,000 products to space, including a tape dispenser that can be operated with one hand, footpads, sleeping pad liners, and orange blackberry croissants and other food products.

Very long-distance calls

Through ISS Ham Radio, a collaboration with Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, students use ham radio to ask astronauts questions about life in space, career opportunities, and other space-related topics. Participating teachers report that the program has a significant and positive impact on students, increasing interest in all STEM areas. The experiences also help students make real-world connections among disciplines, learn problem-solving, and hone communication skills. To date, more than 100 crew members have communicated with over 1 million students from 49 U.S. states, 63 countries, and every continent.

Out-of-this-world videos

Developed through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, STEMonstrations are short educational videos demonstrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics topics in microgravity for grades K through 12. The videos are available online and every STEMonstration includes materials teachers can use to explore the topics in their classrooms. Six videos released in the past 12 months have been viewed 98,705 times to date across various social media platforms. The program provides students with a connection to NASA and scientific work conducted on the space station, inspiring the next generation of explorers and contributing to a diverse future workforce.

Melissa Gaskill
International Space Station Research Communications Team
NASA’s Johnson Space Center

Search this database of scientific experiments to learn more about those mentioned in this article.

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NASA Helps Build New Federal Sea Level Rise Website

Designed to be user-friendly, the resource contains the latest sea level data, explainers, and other information from several U.S. agencies.

The U.S. Interagency Task Force on Sea Level Change launched the U.S. Sea Level Change website on Monday, Sept. 23. Designed to help communities prepare for rising seas, the site features the latest science on changing sea levels, details about the impact on the environment and coastal communities, and strategies to mitigate the consequences. NASA led the development of the website for the task force.

“NASA, together with our partner agencies, has studied climate change and Earth’s rising seas for decades,” said Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The data collected by our satellites and ground-based instruments is crucial to helping policymakers and communities prepare for the consequences of sea level rise. By combining NASA data with information from other federal agencies, the U.S. Sea Level Change website is the latest example of government working for the benefit of humanity.”

Demonstrating a whole-of-government approach, the sea level task force sits within the U.S. Global Change Research Program and includes leading researchers from NASA, the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

They’ve designed a user-friendly hub that brings together information on sea level change from the various federal agencies. While being detailed and accurate for resource managers, researchers, and others seeking more technical information, the website is intended to be accessible to anyone interested in the latest science and strategies to cope with rising seas.

“Everyone will have access to accurate sea level and flooding information in their favorite U.S. coastal city and see the timing of the projected increase in water levels and flooding frequency,” added Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, who directs NASA’s sea level change team as well as the ocean physics program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

The contributing federal agencies focus on different aspects of sea level rise, including basic scientific research and the effects of rising seas on the environment, as well as infrastructure. With the new site, users can explore the topic from different angles.

“Having this information in one place, delivered in a consistent and authoritative way through a true interagency effort, represents a big step forward for how the federal government helps coastal communities prepare for future sea level rise,” said Ben Hamlington, a sea level researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Site visitors can find explainers on sea level science, summaries of what rising seas will look like for various parts of U.S. coastlines, and updates to the 2022 interagency report on sea level rise. The report concluded that U.S. coastlines will experience an average of 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) of rise above current sea levels by 2050 and that the amount of rise in the next 30 years could equal the total rise seen over the past 100 years.

The report also outlined near-term sea level rise under various levels of greenhouse gas emissions, from best-case to business-as-usual to worst-case scenarios. The scenarios are based on improved scientific understanding of how melting glaciers and ice sheets — as well as upward and downward vertical land motion — will affect ocean heights at our coasts. The data and scenarios have been updated for the task force website.

NASA contributions to the 2022 interagency report, as well as to the newly launched sea level website, are part of ongoing agency work to understand Earth’s rising seas. NASA’s efforts to monitor the ocean span more than 30 years and include satellites such as Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich and the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission. Both were jointly developed by the agency and international and domestic partners. Agency partners on Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich include ESA (European Space Agency), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, and NOAA. For SWOT, NASA partners include the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), CSA (the Canadian Space Agency), and the UK Space Agency.

For more on how NASA studies our home planet, see:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth

News Media Contacts

Elizabeth Vlock / Aries Keck
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-604-2356
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov / aries.keck@nasa.gov

Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov

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