Padi Boyd is an American astrophysicist. She is the head of

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 ...

's Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory and an Associate Director at 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 ...

. She is the project scientist for NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission.

Early life and education

Boyd was born in

Perth Amboy, New Jersey Perth Amboy is a city (New Jersey), city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,4 ...

. She was more interested in the arts than in science as a child, but became interested in

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

in high school, spurred in part by

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

's ''

Cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

'' television show. Raised in

Metuchen, New Jersey Metuchen ( ) is a suburban borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region within the New York Metropolitan area. The borough, along wit ...

, she graduated from

Metuchen High School Metuchen High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Metuchen in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Metuchen Scho ...

and was inducted in 2015 into the school's hall of fame as part of its inaugural class. She began conducted astronomical research as an undergraduate at

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

, and went on to pursue graduate studies as

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...

, where she earned a Ph.D. in physics and atmospheric science in 1993.

Career

In 1993, Boyd began work for NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center, working with the Hubble Space Telescope's High Speed Photometer Team. In 1995, she joined Goddard's X-Ray Astronomy Group, where she worked on the MOXE x-ray telescope; in 1997 she began work on the

Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) was a NASA satellite that observed the time variation of astronomical X-ray sources, named after physicist Bruno Rossi. The RXTE had three instruments — an All Sky Monitor, the High-Energy X-ray Timing ...

. From 2003 to 2008, she managed both the Rossi facility and the Swift Science Center. She went on to work on the

Kepler space telescope The Kepler space telescope is a disused space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orb ...

and its successor, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission.

Musical project

Boyd is a member of the Chromatics, an ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

'' group focused on songs about astronomy and physics. Members of the group include engineers, astronomers, and other employees from NASA. In May 1998, with the support of a NASA Initiative to Develop Education through Astronomy (IDEA) grant, the group released a 6-track CD ''AstroCappella'' along with a packet of related educational materials for use by classroom teachers. They released an expanded CD, ''AstroCappella 2.0'' in 2001, with additional teaching resources on CD-ROM. They have performed at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

, the

Maryland Science Center The Maryland Science Center, located in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, opened to the public in 1976. It includes three levels of exhibits, a planetarium, and an observatory. It was one of the original structures that drove the revitalization of the ...

, and in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, and

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, among other venues.

References

External links

Dr. Boyd's curriculum vitae

AstroCappella website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Padi NASA people NASA astrophysicists American astrophysicists Women astrophysicists Scientists from New Jersey Living people Metuchen High School alumni People from Metuchen, New Jersey People from Perth Amboy, New Jersey Year of birth missing (living people)