James Webb Space Telescope: A Collective Human Achievement
Welcome to our series on the James Webb Space Telescope; a major collective human achievement of our times! Also known as JWST or Webb, this observatory orbits the sun a million miles from Earth, giving us a new look at the universe.
In this series, we feature four curiosity-driven conversations led by Longitude fellows aiming to shed light on the contributions of people from various organizations and roles that brought JWST to fruition. Photo credits: NASA
Check out our library exhibit slides here. Let us know if your campus library would like to host this exhibit by writing to us at podcast@longitude.site. See mini album of exhibit displays from the Dallas Public Library and St Thomas University Library.
Ep 116: Visualizing Space: Present and Future | Dr. Matthew Greenhouse
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Dr. Matthew Greenhouse is an infrared astronomer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In this episode, Keegan Leibrock, a political science and economics student from Rice University speaks with him about the path that led him to working on the James Webb Space Telescope, how it is inspiring new projects to look even further into space and explore new dimensions.
Ep 117: From Intern to Design Engineer on JWST | Mei-Li Hey
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Mei-Li Hey is a mechanical design engineer at Northrop Grumman. In this episode, Ali Kazmaz, an architecture student from Rice University, speaks with her about her contributions to the James Webb Space Telescope project and how an internship shaped her career in design engineering.
Ep 118: Why are we looking in the infrared? | Dr. Alison Nordt
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Dr. Alison Nordt is the director of space science and instrumentation at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center. In this episode, Louis Noel, a recent graduate of the Master of Engineering Management and Leadership program from Rice University speaks with her about the Near Infrared Camera and the partnerships that made the Webb telescope a success.
Ep 119: Exploring far galaxies | Dr. Jeyhan Kartaltepe
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Dr. Jeyhan Kartaltepe is an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Rochester Institute of Technology who conducts research on how galaxies form and evolve over time. Her COSMOS-Webb project received one of the initial research grants to study the images from JWST. In this episode, Zehra Karakilic, a neuroscience student from Tilburg University speaks with her about what it entails to explore galaxies and how students get involved in her research projects.
Ep 120: Communicating NASA missions | Peter Sooy
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Peter Sooy is the public outreach lead at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the Webb Telescope and the Roman Telescope that is next in line. In this episode, Louis Noel, a recent graduate from Rice University speaks with him about what the day-to-day activities entails in communicating complex engineering missions to lay audiences.