Lunar News

Skip to content | Skip to navigation

Site Actions

Site Sections

Breadcrumbs

Home Lunar SamplesLunar News
Volume 71 – February 2012

Employee Highlights


Roger Harrington
Roger Harrington, Lunar Sample Processor

Roger Harrington, Lunar Sample Processor

Roger Harrington began working in Astromaterials Curation as a Sample Collection Processor in August 2007. He is a Jacobs/ ESCG teammate with Hamilton Sundstrand. Roger works primarily in the ANSMET Meteorite Processing Lab and the Meteorite Thin Section Laboratory. As a Curation sample processor, he prepares sample chips and\or sections for allocations to Principle Investigators, interact with PIs for accuracy in sample research and sample documentation (lunar). Roger continues to help out as needed in the Lunar Sample Laboratory and the Lunar Thin Section Lab as well as with JSC Media Services promoting ARES and assisting in activities with the general public. Roger has prepared several lunar and meteorite samples for displays including the AP-11 display that was flown on the International Space Station (ISS). He participates in ARES and ESCG Educational Outreach programs by disseminating motivational and scientific information to students, faculty and communities in the Houston and surrounding area.

Roger’s previous career experience includes laboratory rock core analysis for oil and gas exploration, geotechnical engineering field and laboratory operations, and working for the Environmental Stormwater Management Division of the City of Norfolk, VA Public Works Department. He taught geology and oceanography laboratory courses at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, Virginia. While at TCC, Roger worked aboard the college oceanographic research vessel R/V Matthew F. Maury in every capacity from engineer to instructor. He also spent eight years as an Aviation Electronics Technician in the U.S. Naval Reserve working on F/A-18 Hornet aircraft.Roger received his Bachelor of Science degree in geology from Old Dominion University in 1996. He has continued his training by taking Managerial, Ethics, and Motivational as well as Service trainings. He is a part of the SARD Mentorship Program in the Lunar Sample Facility.

Roger and his wife Kim moved from Chesapeake, Virginia to Sugar Land, Texas in January of 2007. They still reside there today with sons Alex and Ethan.

Roger is a great addition to the ARES team and Sample Curation!


Angela Green Garcia
Angela Green Garcia, Lunar Sample Processor

Angela Green Garcia, Lunar Sample Processor

Angela Green Garcia was born on September 4, 1978 (Labor Day) in Idabel, Oklahoma, but has called Houston her home since she was 3 months old. Her hero is Popeye and says she would take Batman over Superman. Angela holds a Master’s Degree in Geology from Louisiana State University; GEAUX TIGERS!! As a young child she was fortunate enough to have a father who loved science. He spent a lot of time taking her and her brothers to free science events around town, including every NASA event that was offered (especially the open houses). She notes that this was when people were allowed to enter into most of the buildings. As a result Angela has loved science since she was a young girl. One of her fondest memories was watching the Space Shuttle piggy-back to Ellington. Much like her father, she has always had a love for NASA. It was her dream to grow up and become a NASA scientist.

When Angela was in college, she was an intern with an education outreach group, NASA Space Science Ambassadors, a collaborative between several minority universities and NASA. It was through this program that she was first introduced to the Pristine Sample Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. As part of the training, the ambassadors were brought to JSC to interact with “real” NASA scientists. One of the laboratories visited was the Lunar Sample Laboratory. Her first visit to the Lunar Laboratory left her with a strong desire to one day work in the Pristine Sample Laboratory. She also found that she had a passion for sharing science with others and remained with the Space Science Ambassadors program as the coordinator until leaving to attend graduate school.

After receiving her Master’s of Science from LSU, Angela returned to Houston and taught Geology at the University of Houston-Downtown as an adjunct professor. She was notified about the job opening for a lunar sample processor, applied and landed her dream job at JSC! Currently, she works in the Lunar Lab as well as the Lunar Thin Section Lab. She enjoys applying her skills as a geologist to Space Science; more specifically to lunar geology. “In addition to getting to work with rocks from the Moon as if that wasn’t cool enough, I am also very fortunate to get to spend a large portion of my time doing outreach and education.” Angela has not forgotten the impact it had on her life and hopes to impact others in the same manner.

Angela is a great asset to ARES and Lunar Sample Curation!


Kelsey Young
Kelsey Young

Kelsey Young
NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP)

Kelsey Young graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 with a B.S. in Environmental Geosciences. She then came to Arizona State University and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Geology with Dr. Kip Hodges. Her primary research interests involve the utilization of terrestrial analog sites, or sites on Earth that resemble locations on other planets. She is working on thermochronologic studies of both Haughton and Mistastin Impact Structures and has conducted fieldwork at both Canadian craters. She is also interested in the use of analog sites as testing grounds for the advancement of planetary field geology. She works on developing the technology needed for astronauts to gather geologic observations as well as establishing protocols and procedures for collecting scientific data on other planetary surfaces, whether it is the Moon, Mars or asteroids. Kelsey has participated in several NASA Desert RATS field tests as both a crewmember and a member of the science backroom. These tests are designed to develop technology and protocols for conducting planetary field geology from habitat rovers and laboratories on other planetary surfaces. In addition to this, Kelsey was awarded a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP) Fellowship, which funds her research for three years and enables her to spend three months a year working at NASA JSC. She is working with Dr. Cindy Evans on developing handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology, which will enable astronauts to obtain real-time geochemical data in the field. (She presented the abstract, IN-SITU XRF MEASUREMENTS IN LUNAR SURFACE EXPLORATION USING APOLLO SAMPLES AS A STANDARD, at the poster session at the 42th LPSC in March 2011).