Rita M. Sambruna

Rita M. Sambruna is an Italian-American astrophysicist and is the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Science Division at National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center. Sambruna held the Clare Boothe Luce Professorship in Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University.

Rita M. Sambruna
Born
Italy
Alma materInternational School for Advanced Studies (MPhil, PhD) University of Milan (Laurea)
AwardsNASA Exceptional Achievement Medal
Fellow, American Physical Society
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsNational Aeronautics and Space Administration
George Mason University
h-index = 57

Early life and education

A native of Italy, Sambruna obtained her Laurea degree in Physics from the Universitá degli Studi di Milano (University of Milan).[1] She received a MPhil and a PhD in Astrophysics from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) with a thesis featuring the X-ray properties of extragalactic jets observed with ROSAT.[2]

Career

Sambruna held a postdoctoral position at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), in Baltimore, MD, was an NRC Research Fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and a Research Associate at the Pennsylvania State University, in State College, PA. She held a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.[1]

From 2000-2005, Sambruna was the Clare Boothe Luce Professor in Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University, where she was part of the teaching faculty and where she mentored several undergraduate and graduate students in research projects. From 2005, she was a senior scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center with the Fermi group, conducting research on galaxies, jets, and black holes. [2]

In 2010, she joined NASA Headquarters where she served as the Program Scientist for the Physics of the Cosmos Program (PCOS), oversaw the implementation of the Astrophysics Decadal Survey priorities for PCOS and managed the Strategic Astrophysics Technology program. She was the Program Scientist for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) gravitational wave observatory. She served as Deputy Program Officer for the Astrophysics Data Archival Program (ADAP) and was the lead for Strategy for the Astrophysics Division.[2]

Sambruna is currently the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.[3]

Research

Sambruna's astrophysics interests include the study of the condition of matter around supermassive black holes (jets, winds, warm absorbers), which she studied with X-ray and Gamma-ray observatories, including Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Fermi. She now adds gravitational waves as a complement to studies of the Universe in the electromagnetic band.[4]

Sambruna is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society.[5]

Awards and Honors

Sambruna received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in 2019. [6] In 2020, she was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society.[7] In 2021, she was elected Fellow of the American Astronomical Society.[8]

Personal life

In her free time, Sambruna enjoys reading, riding horses, and teaching yoga.[2] She is a certified RYT200 yoga teacher, with specialization in Yoga for Cancer. [4]

References
  1. "Rita Sambruna". GMU.
  2. "Dr. Rita Sambruna | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  3. "Astrophysics Science Division (660) Management Staff".
  4. "Dr. Rita Sambruna | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  5. "APS Member".
  6. "Rita Sambruna Exceptional Achievement Medal 2019".
  7. "Rita Sambruna APS Fellow 2020".
  8. "Rita Sambruna AAS Fellow 2021".

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