Karen M Smale

Karen is the SED Web Editor in Chief, managing the Code 600 organization website development team (which is awesome!) and helping to improve the overall web presence of Code 600's websites by shaping policy and assisting web developers across the Directorate. She is co-organizer of the Web Common Interest Group, which holds semi-regular meetings for web developers, and she has also served on several Web-related committees at the GSFC and NASA level. Simultaneously, Karen is the SESDA Astrophysics Group Manager,

Prior to her current position, Karen was the webmaster for the HEASARC (High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center), LHEA (Lab. for High Energy Astrophysics), and then ASD (Astrophysics Science Division) and several project sites. In addition, she developed graphics for public outreach for the HEASARC and the Astrophysics Sciences Division. She designed the first 13 Imagine the Universe CD-ROMs, half a dozen outreach posters, and many mission displays and materials. Throughout this period, Karen provided peer review coordination and technical support for the ROSAT, ASCA, RXTE, GALEX, Fermi, Suzaku, and Swift missions.

In her first 5 years at Goddard, Karen was a solar forecaster for the Solar Maximum Mission and then moved to the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics, where she was a mission planner for the Broad Band X-ray Telescope, which flew on the Space Shuttle in December 1990. After that, she joined the newly-created HEASARC where she supported scientists analyzing data from the ROSAT and ASCA x-ray missions. She also edited the HEASARC journal, Legacy, and the ROSAT and ASCA Newsletters.

B.A. in Physics from the University of Colorado, 1986. (Includes an emphasis in astrophysical, planetary and atmospheric sciences)

• Outstanding Achievement Award - ADNET (2020)
• Special Act Team Award - Science Jamboree support (2019)
• ADNET CREW Award (2015)
• ADNET CREW Award - GSFC Code 600 Web Development Team (2013)
• Peer Award - Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics (2003)
• Group Achievement Award - ASCA Mission Operations Team (1996)
• Group Achievement Award - High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (1996)
• Peer Award - Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics (1994)
• Special Act Group Award - ASCA Team (1993)
• Group Achievement Award - Astro-1 Payload Science Team (1992)
• Special Act Group Award - ROSAT Science Data Center (1991)
• Group Achievement Award - Astro-1 Investigators Group (1991)

Supported over 40 NASA mission peer reviews 1993--2010.