Fiona McDaniel
(Postbac Researcher)
| Email: | fiona.mcdaniel@nasa.gov |
| Org Code: | |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 665 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: | UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND AT COLLEGE PARK |
Education
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Physics B.S., Minor: Data Science Engineering, GPA: 3.99
Positions/Employment
Transient Detection Researcher
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD
September 2025 - Present
Employing machine learning techniques to identify gamma ray bursts in PRIME telescope photometry data under Dr. Alexander Kutyrev. Generating a training dataset of transient images and metadata using image subtraction in Fourier space.
Optical Control Intern
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Pasadena, CA
January 2025 - August 2025
Developed closed loop beam control software to correct for atmospheric distortion in free-space optical links. Built and aligned an optical testbed with two deformable mirrors and a wavefront sensor.
System Data Engineering Intern
Blue Origin - Kent, WA
June 2024 - September 2024
Created a change impact automated report to notify engineers when items depend on modified signals, and tracked 10,000+ weekly signal changes. Wrote a Python module for engineers to analyze associated items in New Glenn system architecture data.
Link Budget Intern
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Pasadena, CA
June 2023 - August 2023
Developed the Quantum Optical-Link Tool for Engineering (QuOTE), a user interface to model free-space optical and quantum communication links, including the Psyche mission downlink. Captured and summarized key findings for telescope systems operations tests on the Goldstone DSS13 antenna.
Detector Characterization Intern
University of Washington - Bothell, WA
June 2022 - August 2022
Characterized noise in LIGO gravitational wave signals through creating a user interface to represent strain data alongside its coherence with auxiliary channel noise artifacts. Increased user flexibility for color-coding and filtering data.
Selected Publications
Refereed
2026. "A Machine Learning Approach for Telemetry-Based Frequency Stability Estimation of High Precision Clocks.", IEEE Open Journal of Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 6 127-136 [10.1109/ojuffc.2026.3685191] [Journal Article/Letter]