Claudia Alexander

Education

In 1983, Alexander received a Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in geophysics, which she thought would be a good background for a planetary scientist. Alexander earned her Master's from the University of California, Los Angeles in geophysics and space physics in 1985. Her masters' thesis used Pioneer Venus Orbiter data to study solar cycle variations in extreme ultraviolet radiation of the Venus ionosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. She earned her Ph.D. in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, specializing in the physics of space plasma, from the University of Michigan in 1993.

Career

Alexander worked at the United States Geological Survey studying plate tectonics and at the Ames Research Center observing Jovian moons, before moving to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1986, where she worked for 30 years. She worked as science coordinator for the plasma wave instrument aboard the Galileo spacecraft before becoming the project manager of the mission in its final phase. The mission discovered 21 new moons of Jupiter and the presence of an atmosphere on Ganymede. The discovery of the atmosphere, more precisely a "surface bound exosphere", caused scientists to rethink their assumptions that Ganymede was an inactive moon. She was the final project manager for the mission, and oversaw the spacecraft's dive into Jupiter's atmosphere at the mission's conclusion in 2003.

Alexander worked as a researcher on diverse topics, including the evolution and interior physics of comets, Jupiter and its moons, planetary magnetospheres, plate tectonics, space plasma, the discontinuities and expansion of solar wind, and the planet Venus. She also worked with the project team as a science coordinator on the Cassini mission to Saturn. She wrote and co-authored 14 papers.

She was a strong advocate for women and minorities in the STEM fields and a passionate science communicator. Alexander worked a lot with young women at the University of Michigan, helping them finish their studies. She was considered a role model for many women of colour in stem, encouraging them to attend higher education. In April 2015, she presented a TEDx talk at Columbia College Chicago, "The Compelling Nature of Locomotion and the Strange Case of Childhood Education", describing her approach for educating children about science. She also mentored young people, particularly young girls of color, to encourage their passions for science.

From 2000 until the time of her death, Alexander served as project scientist of NASA's role in Rosetta, the European Space Agency mission to study and land on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On the mission she was responsible for $35 million in instrumentation, collecting data such as temperature from three instruments on the orbiter. She also oversaw tracking and navigation support from the NASA's Deep Space Network for the spacecraft.

Personal life

In addition to her scientific work, Alexander had a passion for writing. She wrote children's books, including some of the "Windows to Adventure" series, Which of the Mountains Is Greatest of All? and Windows to the Morning Star. She also wrote science fiction and was a member of the Romance Writers of America. She used her writing skills to contribute to another of her passions, tennis, writing for the Bleacher Report tennis blog. She also enjoyed traveling and horseback riding.

On July 11, 2015, Alexander died in Arcadia, California after a ten-year battle with breast cancer. She was laid to rest at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, California. She was 56 years old when she died.