Rita M. Sambruna facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rita M. Sambruna
FRAS (Hon)
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Rita Sambruna
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| Awards | Robert H. Goddard Honor Award (2022) Honorary Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society (2023) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astrophysics |
| Institutions | National Aeronautics and Space Administration George Mason University |
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Rita M. Sambruna is an American astrophysicist. This means she is a scientist who studies space, stars, and the universe. She works at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Currently, she is the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
From September 2022 to May 2023, she was the Acting Deputy Director of the Science Exploration Directorate at Goddard. Before that, from 2000 to 2005, Dr. Sambruna was a special professor in Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University.
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Rita Sambruna's Career Journey
After earning her PhD in Astrophysics, Dr. Sambruna worked at several important places. She was a researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. She also worked as a research fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Later, she was a research associate at the Pennsylvania State University. She even received a special award called a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for her early career research.
Teaching and Mentoring
From 2000 to 2005, Dr. Sambruna was a professor at George Mason University. There, she taught students about physics and astronomy. She also helped many undergraduate and graduate students with their own research projects.
Working at NASA
After her time at George Mason University, Dr. Sambruna became a senior scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2005. She joined a team that studied galaxies, powerful jets of energy, and black holes.
In 2010, she moved to NASA Headquarters. There, she helped manage important space science programs. She was the Program Scientist for the Physics of the Cosmos Program (PCOS). She also helped guide the Strategic Astrophysics Technology program. She was also the Program Scientist for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), which is a special observatory designed to detect gravitational waves.
Today, Rita Sambruna is the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
What Rita Sambruna Researches
Dr. Sambruna is very interested in studying what happens around supermassive black holes. She looks at things like jets of energy, winds, and other materials. She uses special telescopes that can see X-rays and Gamma-rays, like Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Fermi.
Her research also uses observations from many different types of telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope. She has recently started using information from gravitational waves and other "messengers" from space. This helps scientists get a wider and deeper understanding of the universe.
Dr. Sambruna is a member of several important science groups. These include the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society.
Awards and Special Honors
Dr. Sambruna has received many awards for her amazing work.
- In 2023, she was given the title of Honorary Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- She was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2020.
- She became a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2021.
- In 2022, she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- Also in 2022, Dr. Sambruna received the Robert H. Goddard Honor Award. This award was for her leadership in astrophysics research, especially for her work on the Astrophysics Decadal Survey.
Rita Sambruna's Hobbies
In her free time, Dr. Sambruna enjoys reading books and riding horses. She also teaches yoga and is a certified yoga teacher. She has a special training in yoga for people who have had cancer. She is also trained in a method called Applied Behavior Analysis, which she uses with animals.
See also
In Spanish: Rita M. Sambruna para niños
