Rachel B. Vershel is a Lead Research Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where she coordinates multi-agency disaster response activities through the NASA Disasters Program's Disasters Response Coordination System (DRCS). In this role, she partners with domestic and international organizations to provide cutting-edge Earth observation data and geospatial analysis for disaster response efforts. Rachel specializes in landslide hazard assessment, leading the processing and analysis of geospatial hazard data using advanced models including the Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness (LHASA) and Semi-Automatic Landslide Detection (SALaD) systems.
As a key contributor to NASA Earth Action's Private-Sector Engagement Program, Rachel facilitates strategic partnerships through 1:1 meetings, industry roundtables, and specialized training sessions designed to help private sector partners leverage NASA Earth observation data.
Prior to joining NASA in 2021, Rachel served as Geospatial Program Manager at Chesapeake Conservancy's Conservation Innovation Center, where she managed a comprehensive portfolio of conservation projects utilizing high-resolution land cover, land use, and change datasets. She supported multi-million dollars in grant funding through proposal writing and technical project communication to stakeholders, while directing analyst staff and establishing quality protocols for deliverables. Rachel also developed novel methods for high-resolution mapping of advanced land use classes. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Geospatial Analyst at NOAA, leading GIS project teams in performing advanced geospatial analytics, and at Environmental Quality Resources, where she performed stream restoration and water quality improvement projects throughout Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. Rachel's career with NASA began during the Spring 2017 session of NASA DEVELOP, where she served on the Ecological Forecasting team studying the impacts of climate change on Adirondack State Park in New York, specifically examining the migration patterns of the invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid species.
Rachel holds a Master of Science in Geospatial Information Science and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Policy, both from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has received numerous accolades including the International Association of Emergency Managers Technology and Innovation Award (2025), the NASA Blue Marble Award for Resilience or Climate Change Adaptation (2024), and NASA's Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics Scientific Achievement Award and Ambassador Award (2025).