Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Dorothy J Zukor

(EMERITUS)

Dorothy J Zukor's Contact Card & Information.
Email: dorothy.j.zukor@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.614.5632
Org Code: 610
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 610
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: EMERITUS

Brief Bio



Dorothy J. Zukor is presently Associate Director for the Earth Sciences Division at the Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA. She is responsible for managing all of the internal operations of the Division, including budgets, workforce and travel.  In addition, she serves on Goddard's Library Advisory Committee as it transitions from a traditional library to an information center.  She is the subject matter expert for Earth Sciences for the Agency's Technical Capabilities Assessment Team (TCAT).  In 2014, she led the Division's response to the limits that Sequestration placed on NASA and authored the impacts report of the 2013 furlough on the Earth Sciences Division.

In 1996, she led the Goddard Strategic Planning Team to help chart the course for Goddard's future success. She served as the senior official for the design and construction of the Earth System Science Building (Bldg. 33) which houses most of the Center's Earth scientists to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Prior to assuming her present position, she served as the Deputy Director of the Earth Sciences Division and before that, she was the Deputy Director of the Earth Sciences Directorate (1993-2014).  From 1990-1993, she held the position of Associate Director for Projects Engineering for the Earth Sciences Directorate where she was responsible for providing guidance and coordination to all Earth Sciences projects in matters pertaining to systems engineering and instrumentation.

From 1988-1990, she served as the Assistant Executive Officer to NASA Headquarters' Administrators Admiral Richard H. Truly and Dr. James C. Fletcher. In that capacity, she worked directly with the Administrator to assure that he was kept informed of issues and activities in a timely manner and coordinated all NASA activities with the White House. In addition, she worked with other Senior NASA officials to assure that the Administrator's directions were properly communicated and implemented.

Before going to NASA Headquarters, she spent 2 years at the Goddard Space Flight Center as a Payload Safety Manager for the Attached Shuttle Payloads Project (1986-1988).

From 1979-1981, Dr. Zukor served as a Fellow for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) where she researched specific issues for Committee members and represented the Committee on task forces and at meetings.  Following her tour with the ACRS, she worked with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) analyzing nuclear reactor incidents.

Dr. Zukor's academic training includes a B.A. in Physics from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland (1972), an M.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Maryland (1976), and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Maryland (1982). While at Maryland, she earned her Reactor Operator's license for their research reactor, taught numerous undergraduate classes and labs, and worked part time at the NRC analyzing reactor cores for liquid metal fast breeder reactors.

Dr. Zukor is the Sciences and Exploration Directorate representative to the Center level Diversity & Inclusion Committee.  She also serves as the Center's Mentoring and Coaching Champion.  She is a Certified Integral CoachTM and is an accredited Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

Education



PhD. in Nuclear Engineering, 1982, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
M.S. in Nuclear Engineering, 1972, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
B.A. in Physics, 1972, College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD

Certified Integral CoachTM, Integral Coaching Canada, 2010
Accredited Associate Certified Coach (ACC) level coach, International Coaching Federation, 2011

Professional Societies


Women in Engineering, University of Maryland, Clark School of Engineering

2008 - Present


Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society

1976 - Present


World Future Society

2000 - Present

Awards



NASA GSFC Award of Merit, November 2011

MeritoriousExecutive, Presidential Rank Award, 1999