Mainzer,+Amy

Amy Mainzer- NEOWISE Principal Investigator
photo credit: http://www.kinopoisk.ru/name/1820078/ Information provided by: science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Mainzer Dr. Amy Mainzer is the NEOWISE Principal Investigator for the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. She got her B.S. in Physics at Stanford University, her M.S. in Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, and a PhD. in Astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Mainzer previously worked at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center from 1995-2003 while working with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Since 1996, Mainzer has received the following Awards: Unlike many of her male peers, Mainzer has overcome adversity and lead the way for future female astronomers to become successful scientists. Her contributions for NASA have become essential for preventing and predicting the possibility of near Earth objects colliding with Earth. Upon further research, I decided to contact Mainzer and ask for advice about space science. She was very courteous and promptly replied with, "There's a lot of wonderful work to be done, both in terms of learning about other planets but also as it applies to helping this one. My advice is that it's definitely something worth pursuing. A technical degree gives you enormous flexibility and control over your schedule, and it can take you in lots of different directions. Plus, it's never boring, and every day is different from the next."
 * NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (2012)
 * NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal (2011)
 * Numerous group achievement awards for Spitzer, WISE, NEOWISE
 * Lew Allen Award for Excellence (2010)
 * NASA Graduate Student Research Program Fellowship (2001-2003)
 * National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (1996-1999)

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Photo credit and website: science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Mainzer

OVERVIEW
The short biography of Amy Mainzer on the main webpage for NASA is very insightful as it provides a lot of sustenance without overloading information. This page provides Mainzer's educational background, topics of interest, location, project involvement, professional experience, and scientific awards. Clearly, the purpose of this page is for the reader to get minimal information about Mainzier on a broad variety of topics and allow the reader to conduct further research. There are numerous publications at the end of the page that make this particular website a good starting point for understanding how Amy Mainzer has influenced modern astronomy.

AUTHOR
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory- Site Manager: Aram Pagaryan

LAST UPDATED - IF KNOWN
N/A. This website is constantly monitored and information is current.

DATE REVIEWED
11/03/2015

REVIEWED BY:
Kylie Vandenson

ACCURACY:
Given the fact that NASA is the leading space agency and is a part of the United States Government, the information is very accurate and up to date. There are no contradictory links and the sources are extraordinarily reliable. The website has current and previous missions that Mainzer contributed to as well as all of her awards and academic accomplishments.

READABILITY and CLARITY:
The audience is anyone in the general public that can read English. It is easy to understand, but the specifics of each mission are difficult to comprehend unless the reader has a background in astronomy. Students in particular may benefit from this page as a good starting point for conducting further research as the publications at the end provide links to other academic resources. Readability score of 62.

EASE OF NAVIGATION:
NASA has many tabs so the audience can easily find out more information. This particular page is just about Amy Mainzer, but they also have pages for her projects and the other astronomers that work in the Jet Propulsion Lab. As well, the sources provided allow for the reader to do additional research for external sites if necessary. There are numerous options to find out more within the NASA homepage and the tabs provided that redirect the reader.

IMAGE:
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Photo credit and Website: http://onedublin.org/2013/10/22/nasa-scientist-amy-mainzer-searches-beyond-the-sky-for-interesting-questions/

OVERVIEW
This website is an educational blog for the city of Dublin, California written by students and volunteers focused on academic success and relevance. As Mainzer resides in California, the purpose of this article is to not only interview Dr. Mainzer and provide an insight into her background of astronomy, but also to use the information to encourage young people in the area to get involved in STEM studies and educational excellence. Overall, the webpage is very precise and gives an interesting perspective to what Mainzer intends to accomplish, how she became an astronomer in NASA, and advice for middle school and high school students interested in science. She emphasizes how curiosity is much more important than memorization and that students need tor retrain their brain to think mathematically.

AUTHOR
James Morehead

LAST UPDATED - IF KNOWN
October 22, 2013

DATE REVIEWED
12/01/15

REVIEWED BY:
Kylie Vandenson

ACCURACY:
The article was published in 2013 and is an opinion based interview, so it is accurate for its specific purpose. This website does not provide key information about Dr. Mainzer and her accomplishments as a whole, rather it focuses certain theories and the overall exploration of the universe. It is narrow in regards to legitimate research, but has many useful quotes and is a good indicator of the voice of Amy Mainzer. This is a good supplemental resource, but it does not provide too much information. What is provided is the accurate opinion of Mainzer herself.

READABILITY and CLARITY:
This particular page is directed towards students, specifically local California students. It is quite easy to read and helps provide inspiration for young people to pursue academic excellence in the field of science. It almost seems to be a motivational interview directed at high school or college age students. One of the questions focuses on Mainzer's WISE mission to locate and identify asteroids that are near Earth which is very interesting to read. The article also compares the real world application of scientific research in contrast to some of the mundane activities used to teach students about science. Readability score of a 67.

EASE OF NAVIGATION:
This blog is fairly easy to navigate with tabs for the reader to explore what onedublin.org represents as well as their mission statement. It is clear to see that this website intends to motivate young students and inspire a curiosity scientific research. It only has one page about Amy Mainzer, so it is limited in that regard, but is abundant with other science and astronomy related topics. It has an in depth interview with Mainzer that can be useful for the reader. For students, this page can be beneficial as a stepping stone for further research.

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photo credit and website: http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-discovery-program-series-neocam-pi.html

OVERVIEW
This page is a blog that focuses not only on women in astronomy, but also the NEOCam mission that analyzes near Earth comets and asteroids. The camera not only determines the mass of these small-bodied objects, but also helps prevent these objects from causing substantial damage to the Earth. This article provides an overview on the NEOWISE and WISE missions that Mainzer leads, but also who works on the projects with her, and has a supplemental interview with Dr. Mainzer. It outlines some of Mainzer's academic achievements, such as her PhD thesis on an infrared camera on NASA's SOPHIA project, as well as her history with NASA and achievement medals. While this site is merely a blog, and not an academic website, a reader must be careful with the academic relevance of this particular article. It seems to be accurate, but being a blog makes the information at risk for plagiarism and inaccuracy.

AUTHOR
Christina Richey

LAST UPDATED - IF KNOWN
12/01/15

DATE REVIEWED
12/01/15

REVIEWED BY:
Kylie Vandenson

ACCURACY:
This blog was written just a few days ago and is very current. There is no contradictory information from what I can tell, however, a reader must be careful when reading a blog instead of a scholarly article. This blog documents a Discovery Program Series in which NASA selected for further refinement, and Mainzer is a primary figure for 2 out of the five projects. Based on my research of Mainzer, all information is accurate and current.

READABILITY and CLARITY:
The audience is focused primarily on keeping people up to date with NASA's current products. It does have some difficult to understand terminology and is intended for advanced English speakers. While the article is clearly written, it also may be confusing for people without a science background. Students, in particular, are a good target audience for this blog. Overall readability level of a 61.

EASE OF NAVIGATION:
This blog is very easy to navigate. It provides all contributors to the women in science portion of the blog on the right hand side, and is update frequently. All of the information is properly cited and the usage of interviews helps make the writing more relevant. As with any blog, the tabs may take to reader to the writing of different authors and possibly unrelated subjects, so the audience must be cautious of where they choose to conduct research.

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Photo credit and website: http://www.themarysue.com/malala-yousafzai-asteroid/

OVERVIEW
The Mary Sue is an entertainment website that focuses on different topics such as movies and television, space and technology, gaming, comics, and more. It has comical writing and is much more informal compared to an academic resource. However, this particular article focuses on Mainzer's finding of an asteroid between the main belt of Mars and Jupiter. Mainzer used one of the NEOWISE telescopes to discover the asteroid nearly five years ago and decided to name it in honor of Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Mainzer is a big proponent of involving females in scientific achievements and wanting to honor the contributions of women.

AUTHOR
Carolyn Cox

LAST UPDATED - IF KNOWN
04/10/15

DATE REVIEWED
12/07/15

REVIEWED BY:
Kylie Vandenson

ACCURACY:
Given the limited amount of information provided in the article, everything discussed about Amy Mainzer and Asteroid 316201 Malala (2010 ML48) is completely accurate. It is not very long and has a few quotes directly from Mainzer in regards to future innovations in space. There are no contradictory details nor inaccurate information on this page, but the site as a whole may contain inaccurate information.

READABILITY and CLARITY:
This article is incredibly easy to read and even a young audience would understand its content. Other than a couple of astronomy related terms, the writing is lighthearted and conversational. There are a few examples of English "slang", so non English speakers may have difficulty picking up on the modest humor. The overall readability is a 70.

EASE OF NAVIGATION:
Mary Sue is easy to navigate for the sake of entertainment articles, but it provides very little for conducting legitimate scientific research. This may be one of the only reputable articles that students or amateur astronomers can use for insightful information about Amy Mainzer or the finding of new celestial objects. As a reader, it is important to validate the information found on this site with other reputable resources.

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photo credit and website: http://phys.org/news/2015-03-nasa-asteroid-hunter-spacecraft.html

OVERVIEW
Rather than an overview about Amy Mainzer, this particular webpage focuses on the data collected from NEOWISE and its availability to the public. Mainzer is quoted as saying the most rewarding part of her job is releasing the data to the public and utilizing such cutting edge technology. In just one year, NEOWISE captured 2.5 million image sets on over 10,000 celestial objects. This page provides fascinating factual information about the asteroid spacecraft and how it prevents near Earth objects from dangerous collisions in the Earth's atmosphere. Additionally, NASA is requesting $50 million for the 2016 budget to further their near Earth object research so Mainzer will be a crucial astronomer in the years to come.

AUTHOR
Dwayne Brown

LAST UPDATED - IF KNOWN
03/27/2015

DATE REVIEWED
12/07/2015

REVIEWED BY:
Kylie Vandenson

ACCURACY:
Phys.org is a comprehensive news service that covers a full range of science, research, and medical articles from legitimate scientists. As such, the accuracy of each article is verified and monitored closely by experts in various fields. The sources are fact checked and considered very reliable. It takes information directly from NASA and directly cites the NEOWISE link from NASA's webpage. There are no contradictory links or sources.

READABILITY and CLARITY:
The audience is anyone interested in the fields of physics, astronomy, technology, chemistry, biology, or other scientific fields of research. This particular article is written for someone with a background knowledge of astronomy and may be confusing for people who do not understand NASA, space, or near Earth objects. Students may enjoy this page as a good reference for learning about space and the importance of asteroid missions. Overall readability score of 62.

EASE OF NAVIGATION:
Phys.org also provides tabs other major sciences and works in cohesion with STEM research. It is very easy to navigate and the reader is advised to read the mission statement to understand where the information originates from. Over 100 articles are published daily so the reader has many options to stay current on major developments in science and technology. More than a million scientists and researchers provide essential information for the audience to navigate hundreds of articles with ease.