Waleed Abdalati held the position of

NASA Chief Scientist Chief Scientist is the most senior science position at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The chief scientist serves as the principal advisor to the NASA Administrator in science issues and as interface to the national and ...

from 3 January 2011 through December 2012. Abdalati was named to this position on 13 December 2010 by

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 ...

Administrator

Charles Bolden Charles Frank Bolden Jr. (born August 19, 1946) is a former Administrator of NASA, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General, and a former astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions. He graduated from the United States Naval A ...

. Abdalati previously served

as Head of Cryospheric Sciences at

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 ...

between January 2004 and June 2008.

Early life and education

Abdalati grew up in

Hartford, New York Hartford is a town centrally located in Washington County, New York, United States. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 2,279 at the 2000 census. History The Provincial Patent (1766) was granted ...

and lost his father at age 12. Abdalati earned a Bachelor of Science (

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

) from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 1986, and later completed his graduate studies at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

, where he received a M.Sc. in 1991 from the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and a Ph.D. in 1996 from the Department of Geography. In his doctoral research, Abdalati developed an algorithm to use the ratio of two

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

bands of the

Special Sensor Microwave/Imager The Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) is a seven-channel, four-frequency, linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer system.Hollinger, J.P. 1989: ''DMSP Special Sensor Microwave/Imager Calibration/Validation''. Final Report, Vol. I., Spac ...

(SSM/I) sensor aboard

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) monitors meteorological, oceanographic, and solar-terrestrial physics for the United States Department of Defense. The program is managed by the United States Space Force with on-orbit operati ...

(DMSP) vehicles to remotely detect changes in the spatial extent of the

Greenland ice sheet The Greenland ice sheet ( da, Grønlands indlandsis, kl, Sermersuaq) is a vast body of ice covering , roughly near 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is sometimes referred to as an ice cap, or under the term ''inland ice'', or its Danish equiva ...

's annual melt.

Career

Abdalati is seconded to

from the

at Boulder, where he is Director of the Earth Science and Observation Center at the

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the Uni ...

and Associate Professor in the Department of Geography. He is the current director of the

. In November 2020, Abdalati was named a member of the

Joe Biden presidential transition The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020 and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week o ...

Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 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 th ...

Honors and awards

* Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (since 2019) * NASA

GSFC 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 ...

Center Director’s Team Recognition Award, 2007 * American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronaustics Space Systems Award, 2006 * National Aeronautics and Space Administration Exceptional Service Medal, 2004 *

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 ...

, ICESat Science Team, 2004 * NASA Office of Earth Science Award, 2003 * NASA Group Achievement Award, Honor Award Team 2003 * NASA Office of Earth Science Terra Peer Award, 2002 * NASA Office of Earth Science Award, 2002 * NASA Office of Earth Science Award, 2001 * Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 1999 *

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

National Engineering Honor Society (since 1985)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdalati, Waleed Living people NASA people Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science alumni University of Colorado faculty Year of birth missing (living people)