NASA Biography
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 35812
Mitzi Adams
Ms. Adams is very involved in education and public
outreach activities, frequently giving workshops for teachers and students at
NASA’s Educator Resource Center and at the Institute for Science Education at
the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Ms.
Adams has given tours of the solar observatory facilities to several groups, has
given numerous presentations in local schools, and has tutored high school
students. On the research side, Ms.
Adams analyzes data acquired with MSFC's solar vector magnetograph and is
beginning a project to analyze Chandra X-ray data of stellar sources.
Previously, Ms. Adams has written software to prepare for ground-based
support of the HESSI mission and has analyzed calibration data from the NOAA
Soft X-Ray Imager (SXI), built at MSFC.
“I am a solar scientist for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, now housed in the National Space Sciences and Technology Institute in Huntsville, Alabama. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, so I've not gotten far from home. I graduated from Georgia State University with a B.S. in physics and earned the M.S. degree (also in physics) from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Some of my earliest memories pertaining to astronomy, took place on family holidays when we drove at night to Macon, Georgia (about an hour and a half south of Atlanta). We had a 1955 Chevrolet, which was a very large car; I could sleep on the dashboard in the back (this was before the time of children's car seats or even seat belts!). Well sometimes, I would just look at the sky and pester my parents about what stars I was seeing. Of course, my parents didn’t know, but I became more determined to learn more about stars, their names, why they were different colors, and how far away they were.
When
I was about twelve or thirteen, I had the honor and privilege to meet Commander
Edgar D. Mitchell. For those of you who don't know, Edgar Mitchell became the
sixth man to walk on the Moon. I
met the Commander (now a retired Captain) at a patriotic rally in Gainesville,
Georgia (north of Atlanta), where I spoke to him personally, asking his advice
on becoming an astronaut (a goal I've not attained). At the time, there were no female astronauts, only one female
cosmonaut, and NO female fighter pilots (that restriction was only just lifted
in 1993), so my career goal seemed a bit far-fetched to most people, but not to
Ed Mitchell. I don't know what he
thought at the time, but what he said was "it will be difficult."
He advised me to keep physically fit, take lots of mathematics, and
choose a specialty in the sciences that I really enjoyed.
Although I decided that I didn't really want to be an astronaut, I
followed Edgar Mitchell's advice and am very happy in my profession, solar
astronomer.
Although
not an astronaut, I'm still an explorer. I
frequently explore caves in the north Alabama area and sometimes, I even explore
caves under the water. Although
cave diving is a very, very dangerous sport, I find the underwater world that I
visit is fascinating and enticing. Very
few other humans have visited some of the caves.
Others are quite popular and see traffic each weekend.
But all are very beautiful. I
love to watch air bubbles collect on the ceiling, they look like gems. I like to explore other countries, too. I've visited Germany, France (I even went caving in France),
Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Zambia (in Africa), Peru, and Mexico.
I hope to visit Guatemala and Nepal.
I'm
still following Edgar Mitchell's advice. I
am a runner and like to run half-marathons.
But I'm a dancer, too. When
I was in elementary school, I took tap and ballet, but unfortunately stopped
when I reached high school. Throughout
my twenties and thirties I took dance sporadically, but have been consistent
since arriving in Huntsville in 1988. I'm
not very good at it mind you, but I do enjoy it and even have an opportunity to
perform once or twice a year. I'm
really fortunate to have good teachers here, who work us hard, but allow us to
have fun with dance.
As
for my research, I'm interested in the magnetic fields associated with sunspots.
We have an instrument here at Marshall, which can measure the direction
and magnitude of the magnetic field of the spots.
If the magnetic field becomes twisted, the sunspots may produce a flare.
One of the things we would like to know, is how to predict which sunspots
will flare and which flares will produce "coronal mass ejections",
gigantic explosions of material which can travel through interplanetary space
and affect the Earth through aurora, loss of communication with satellites, and
power grid disruptions.”