Nicola J. Fox (born 1968) is the Associate Administrator for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Science Mission Directorate The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) engages the United States’ science community, sponsors scientific research, and develops and deploys satellites and probes in collaboration with NA ...

. Appointed to the position in February 2023, she is therefore NASA's head of science. She was previously the Director of NASA's

Heliophysics Science Division The ''Heliophysics Science Division'' of the Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA) conducts research on the Sun, its extended Solar System environment (the heliosphere), and interactions of Earth, other planets, small bodies, and interstellar gas wit ...

. Fox was the lead scientist for the

Parker Solar Probe The Parker Solar Probe (PSP; previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+) is a NASA space probe launched in 2018 with the mission of making observations of the outer corona of the Sun. It will approach to within 9.86 solar radii (6 ...

, and served as the Science and Operations Coordinator for the

International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Science Initiative The International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Science Initiative (or ISTP for short) is an international research collaboration between NASA, the ESA, and ISAS. Its goal is to study physical phenomena related to the Sun, solar wind and its effects o ...

Early life and education

Fox was born in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

, Hertfordshire, England. When she was eight months old her father showed her the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

moon landing on television. He continued to encourage her love of science, explaining to her the movement of the planets and identifying stars in the night's sky. She attended St. Francis' College in

Letchworth Garden City Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

, an

all girls school Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

. When she arrived at college she was often the only girl in her science classes. Fox completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in 1990. She earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Telecommunications and Satellite Engineering at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

in 1991. She returned to Imperial College London for her doctoral studies, and served as the

Imperial College Union Imperial College Union is the students' union of Imperial College London. It is host to many and varied societies, and has student bars situated around Albertopolis. The Union is based in the north wing of the Beit Quadrangle on Prince Consor ...

's Women's Officer. She completed a PhD in

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

and

atmospheric physics Within the atmospheric sciences, atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, che ...

at Imperial College London in 1995. Her dissertation considered

geomagnetic storm A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. The disturbance that d ...

s. Fox moved to the

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

as a US National Research Council postdoctoral fellow, where she was mentored by Mario Acuña. At Goddard, Fox worked on Sun-Earth connections. Fox led outreach programs on

space weather Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the time varying conditions within the Solar System, including the solar wind, emphasizing the space surrounding the Earth, including conditions in the ma ...

, and has continued public engagement throughout her scientific career.

Research and career

Fox joined

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

Applied Physics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL) is a not-for-profit University Affiliated Research Center, university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated w ...

in 1998, where she remained as Science and Operations coordinator for the

. Her research focuses on solar system plasma physics and data analysis. She studies the

magnetopause The magnetopause is the abrupt boundary between a magnetosphere and the surrounding plasma. For planetary science, the magnetopause is the boundary between the planet's magnetic field and the solar wind. The location of the magnetopause is d ...

using a range of spacecraft. She has since worked on the NASA Polar spacecraft . In 2008 Fox was the Deputy Project Scientist for

Living With a Star Living With a Star (LWS) is a NASA scientific program to study those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is a crosscutting initiative with goals and objectives relevant to NASA's Exploration Initiati ...

, NASA's Van Allen Probe mission. In 2017 Fox delivered a

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

talk on ''Touching the Sun.'' Fox joined the

Heliophysics Heliophysics (from the prefix " helio", from Attic Greek ''hḗlios'', meaning Sun, and the noun "physics": the science of matter and energy and their interactions) is the physics of the Sun and its connection with the Solar System. NASA define ...

space research branch in 2015. Fox moved to the

NASA Headquarters NASA Headquarters, officially known as Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters or NASA HQ and formerly named Two Independence Square, is a low-rise office building in the two-building Independence Square complex at 300 E Street SW in Washington, D.C. ...

in September 2018, when she was appointed as the Head of the

. Work in the Heliophysics Science Division considers space phenomena relating to the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

, and includes robotic missions and satellites. She was lead Project Scientist for the Parker Solar Probe mission, and was present at the launch in August 2018. The probe looks to understand the

coronal heating problem A corona ( coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's atmosphere. It consists of plasma. The Sun's corona lies above the chromosphere and extends millions of kilometres into outer space. It is most easily seen during a total so ...

and the origins of the

solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the sola ...

. The deputy director is Margaret Luce. Fox was appointed the Associate Administrator for NASA's

on February 27, 2023, making her the organization's Head of Science. Fox has served as Associate Editor for ''

Geophysical Research Letters ''Geophysical Research Letters'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal of geoscience published by the American Geophysical Union that was established in 1974. The editor-in-chief is Harihar Rajaram. Aims and scope The journal aims for ra ...

'' and the ''

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics The ''Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the atmospheric and solar-terrestrial physics. It was established in 1950 as the ''Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics'', ...

''. She is an expert for

The Planetary Society The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active non-governmental nonprofit organization. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political space advocacy Space advocacy is supporting or advocating for a human use of out ...

Awards and honours

*1993

European Geosciences Union The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet." The organisation has headq ...

Young Scientists Award *1997

Outstanding Performance Award *1998

NASA Group Achievement Award The NASA Group Achievement Award (GAA) is an award given by NASA to groups of government or non-government personnel in recognition of group accomplishments contributing to NASA's mission. The criteria for earning the Group Achievement Award are ...

*2000 NASA Group Achievement Award

Personal life

Fox is married with two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Nicola 1969 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of the University of Surrey English expatriates in the United States NASA people People educated at St. Francis' College, Letchworth People from Hitchin Women astrophysicists British astrophysicists

External links

Profile of Nicola Fox, BBC Radio 4