Background
Dr. Heidi B. Hammel is the Executive Vice President of AURA, Inc. (The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy), a consortium of 37 US members (universities as well as educational and non-profit institutions) and 7 international affiliates. AURA operates world-class astronomical observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the National Solar Observatory, and the Gemini Observatory. Hammel assists the AURA President, William Smith, and serves as an alternate for all of his responsibilities, including acting as an ex officio member of the Board of Directors and Management Councils, implementing policy decisions of the Board, and maintaining effective working relationships with funding agencies and AURA Member Institutions.
Prior to her appointment at AURA, Hammel was employed as a senior research scientist and Co-Director of Research at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. She is an Interdisciplinary Scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, (which is scheduled for launch sometime later in this decade). She was also a member of the Science Working Group for the giant segmented mirror telescope. Additionally, she served on the joint NASA/NSF Exoplanet Taskforce, and on the Science and Technology Definition Team for NASA's Terrestrial planet Finder Coronograph mission.
Her main areas of interest are ground and space-based astronomical observations of outer planets' atmospheres and satellites at visible and near infrared wavelengths utilizing Adaptive optics (AO) technology.
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