Maynard, Nancy - Biography

    Dr. Nancy Maynard is the Associate Director for Environment and Health in the Earth Sciences Directorate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and is responsible for leading the development of GSFC's environment and health initiative ("Healthy Planet"), the purpose of which is to enable the easy and timely use of NASA's remotely-sensed observations, data, and models of Earth science parameters important to public health issues such as infectious and vector-borne diseases, air and water quality, thermal extremes, ultraviolet radiation, harmful algal blooms, and pollutant/pathogen transport and deposition via the atmosphere, oceans, ice, and water.

    Dr. Maynard is a biological oceanographer with a wide breadth of scientific experience, ranging from science policy in the White House to management of large interdisciplinary science programs to oceanographic research at sea to the application of science to societal issues.

    Dr. Maynard has managed a number of large, interdisciplinary science programs, including, Deputy Director of the NASA HQ Office of Earth Sciences Science Division (1993-1996), Head of the Oceans and Ice Branch, GSFC (1987-1988); Associate Chief for Research, Lab for Oceans, GSFC (1988-1989); Staff Director to the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council (1980-1982); and Environmental Field Coordinator for the US Bureau of Land Management in Alaska to assess the potential effects of oil and gas development on the marine environment (1976-1978). In the White House Office of the Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Dr. Maynard served over 5 and one half years. She spent one year (1982-1983) in OSTP on US-India S&T cooperation and four and one-half years (1989-1993) as Assistant Director for the Environment. Dr. Maynard's research experience includes laboratory and field studies as well as authorship of over 30 publications in several different areas: aerobiology and long-range atmospheric transport of desert dust, microbes, contaminants and other particulates over southern Florida and in African dust; phytoplankton ecology and paleoecology; satellite studies of variations in biological productivity along the ice edge and open water areas of polar seas; oil pollution; ecology of the Florida Everglades; and malaria and schistosomiasis.

    In the application of science to society, in addition to her current activities applying NASA's assets to public health issues, Dr. Maynard recently (1998-2000) served as the first Director of the Applications, Education, and Outreach Division in the Office of Earth Science at NASA HQ. She has also worked extensively to bring indigenous traditional and local knowledge together with western scientific knowledge to address climate and environment issues for decision-making and management, and was responsible for the inclusion of the indigenous perspective in the U.S. National Assessment of Climate Change Impacts, through her leadership of the Native Peoples-Native Homelands Climate Change Assessment activities. Earlier in her career, she spent 5 years (1978-1982) as a member of a team of scientists who responded to spills of oil and hazardous materials in the marine environment in Alaska and, later, in the Southeast U.S. She served as scientific advisor to the US Coast Guard to help mitigate and measure spill impacts on both the environment and human health.

     She was awarded the Public Service Commendation by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1979 for her work on oil spill response in Alaska, NASA Headquarters Exceptional Performance Award in 1994, and the NASA Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service in 2000. Dr. Maynard received a B.S. in biology and chemistry from Mary Washington College in 1963 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in zoology and biological oceanography from the University of Miami in 1967 and 1974, respectively. She was a post-doctoral fellow in the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics at Harvard University in 1975-1976.