Claudia Alexander

Claudia Joan Alexander (May 30, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was a Canadian-born American research scientist specializing in geophysics and planetary science. She worked for the United States Geological Survey and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She was the last project manager of NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter and until the time of her death had served as project manager and scientist of NASA's role in the European-led Rosetta mission to study Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Education In 1983, Alexander received a Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in geophysics, She earned her Ph.D. in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, specializing in the physics of space plasma, from the University of Michigan in 1993.

Career

Alexander worked at the United States Geological Survey studying plate tectonics and at the Ames Research Center observing Jovian moons, before moving to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1986, where she worked for 30 years. She worked as science coordinator for the plasma wave instrument aboard the Galileo spacecraft before becoming the project manager of the mission in its final phase. The discovery of the atmosphere, more precisely a "surface bound exosphere", caused scientists to rethink their assumptions that Ganymede was an inactive moon. She was the final project manager for the mission, and oversaw the spacecraft's dive into Jupiter's atmosphere at the mission's conclusion in 2003. , plate tectonics, space plasma, the discontinuities and expansion of solar wind, and the planet Venus. She also worked with the project team as a science coordinator on the Cassini mission to Saturn. She wrote and co-authored 14 papers. She was considered a role model for many women of colour in stem, encouraging them to attend higher education. She also mentored young people, particularly young girls of color, to encourage their passions for science.

Personal life In addition to her scientific work, Alexander had a passion for writing. She wrote children's books, including some of the "Windows to Adventure" series, Which of the Mountains Is Greatest of All? and Windows to the Morning Star. She also wrote science fiction and was a member of the Romance Writers of America.

Awards and honors

The year of her graduation from the University of Michigan she was named "U-M Woman of the Year in Human Relations", and she was among the first 20 African Americans students to graduate with a PhD in astronomy-physics. In 2002 she earned the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences Alumni Merit Award, and she also was a member of their National Advisory Board.

The Claudia Alexander Scholarship was established for undergraduate students at her alma mater in 2007 by her uncle, Jiles Williams.

Alexander was a member of the American Geophysical Union—where she served as chair of the diversity subcommittee. In American Geophysical Union (AUG), she focused on education and diversity in earth and space sciences. She also served in the Association for Women Geoscientists, where she was named "Woman of the Year".

The University of Michigan Women in Science and Engineering office gives an annual award in her honor: the Claudia Joan Alexander Trailblazer Award for groundbreaking accomplishments and contributions to STEM. In 2020, the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences introduced the Claudia J. Alexander Prize awarded to scientists who have significantly advanced the field.

Not long after her death, the Miles From Tomorrowland episodes "A Growing Problem" and "The Tardigrade Escapade" were released in her memory.