Rita M. Sambruna facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rita M. Sambruna
Commander OMRI FRAS (Hon)
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Rita Sambruna
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| Alma mater | International School for Advanced Studies (MPhil, PhD) University of Milan (Laurea) |
| Awards | OMRI (2020) 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 |
| h-index = 59 | |
Rita M. Sambruna is an American astrophysicist. This means she is a scientist who studies space, stars, and galaxies. She is a top leader at National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center. There, she is the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Science Division.
From 2022 to 2023, she was also the Acting Deputy Director of the Science Exploration Directorate at Goddard. Before joining NASA, Dr. Sambruna was a special professor at George Mason University. She taught physics and astronomy from 2000 to 2005.
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Rita Sambruna's Career Journey
After finishing her advanced degrees in astrophysics, Dr. Sambruna worked as a researcher. She studied X-ray properties of jets from galaxies. She held research positions at the Space Telescope Science Institute and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She also worked at the Pennsylvania State University.
From 2000 to 2005, Dr. Sambruna was a special professor at George Mason University. She taught students and helped them with their research projects. In 2005, she became a senior scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center. She researched galaxies, jets, and black holes with the Fermi team.
In 2010, she started working at NASA Headquarters. She helped manage important space science programs. One program was called Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS). She also helped guide the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) project. This project is building an observatory to find gravitational waves.
Today, Rita Sambruna is a Deputy Director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She helps lead the science division that studies space.
What Rita Sambruna Researches
Dr. Sambruna is very interested in studying supermassive black holes. These are giant black holes found at the center of most galaxies. She looks at how matter behaves around them. This includes studying "jets" and "winds" that shoot out from black holes.
She uses many different telescopes to do her research. These include X-ray and Gamma-ray telescopes like Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Fermi. She also uses the Hubble Space Telescope. Recently, she started using gravitational waves to learn even more about the Universe.
Dr. Sambruna is a member of several important science groups. These include the American Astronomical Society and the American Physical Society.
Awards and Special Honors
Rita Sambruna has received many awards for her work. In 2023, she was named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. This is a very special honor.
In 2020, Italy gave her a high honor called "Commendatore." This means Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI).
She was also elected a Fellow of several major science groups. She became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2020. In 2021, she became a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society. Then, in 2022, she became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In 2022, Dr. Sambruna received the Robert H. Goddard Honor Award. She earned this award for her leadership in astrophysics research.
Personal Life
In her free time, Rita Sambruna enjoys reading books. She also likes riding horses. Another hobby she has is teaching yoga. She is a certified yoga teacher. She even specializes in teaching yoga to people with cancer. She also knows about Applied Behavior Analysis. This is a way of understanding and changing behavior, which she applies to animals.
See also
In Spanish: Rita M. Sambruna para niños
