Zukor, Dorothy - Biography

    Dorothy J. Zukor is presently Deputy Director of the Earth Sciences Directorate at the Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA. She is responsible for the internal operation of the Directorate, is the Senior Directorate official responsible for the Earth System Science Building, and is currently the Head of the Engineering and Observing Systems Advisory Group which assesses the engineering capability of the Directorate and makes recommendations to the Director of the Earth Sciences Directorate. In 1996 she lead the Goddard Strategic Planning Team to help chart the course for Goddard's future success. She is currently assigned to the discipline engineering study team to provide recommendations for the organization of engineering across the Center.

        Prior to assuming her present position, she held the position of Associate Director for Projects Engineering for the Earth Sciences Directorate (1990-1993) where she was responsible for providing guidance and coordination to all Earth Sciences projects in matters pertaining to systems engineering.

        From 1988-1990, she served as Assistant Executive Officer to NASA Headquarters' Administrators Admiral Richard H. Truly and Dr. James C. Fletcher. In that capacity, she worked directly with the Administrator to assure that he was kept informed of issues and activities in a timely manner and coordinated all NASA activities with the White House. In addition, she worked with other Senior NASA officials to assure that the Administrator's directions were properly communicated.

        Before going to NASA Headquarters, she spent 2 years at the Goddard Space Flight Center as a Payload Safety Manager for the Attached Payloads Project (1986-1988). Prior to joining NASA, she was a reactor systems engineer with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 6 years (1981-1986). In that capacity, she analyzed reactor events which occurred at U.S. nuclear power plants.

        From 1979-1981, Dr. Zukor served as a Fellow for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards where she researched specific issues for Committee members and represented the Committee on task forces and at meetings where appropriate.

        Dr. Zukor's academic training includes a B.A. in Physics from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland (1972), a M.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Maryland (1976), and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Maryland (1982).