Congratulations to Lew Allen Award winner David Thompson

Jan. 15, 2013

Dr. Thompson received the "2013 Lew Allen Award for Excellence" award for his extraordinary leadership and technical vision in the area of in-situ science autonomy. Dr. Thompson has made significant contributions in putting the analysis of data closer to the collection source in order to perform data triage on limited downlink channels as well as to react to dynamic events. Examples include the TextureCam smart instrument concept which advances JPL autonomy capabilities by enabling in-situ science understanding of images; the Agile Science project, which enables unique mission concepts, such as adaptive observations during asteroid fly-bys based on data collected, that would otherwise be impossible due to communication delays; hyperspectral data analysis for cloud screening that is in operations for airborne instruments; and the identification of transient events in radio astronomy data which is also now in operations.