Maria Womack

Dr. Womack provides oversight, management, planning, and evaluation for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Her work primarily focuses on climate change, Sun-Earth interactions, cyber-, and other infrastructure programs, including NCAR's new supercomputer, Derecho, and its Airborne Phased Array Radar (APAR). Additionally, she serves as the lead Program Officer for NCAR's High-Altitude Observatory, which conducts research and supports the community with data and facilities in geospace and solar research. She manages proposals submitted to Midscale Research Infrastructure Track-2 (MsRI-2), Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences (CAIG), Geosciences Open Science Ecosystem (GEO-OSE), and Geosciences Lessons for and from Other Worlds (GLOW). In addition to GEO/AGS, she worked for over four years in MPS/AST, where she led the NSF-NASA team that created the NN-EXPLORE partnership, managed Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Grants (AAG) and Mid-Scale Innovations Program (MSIP) proposals and served as the interagency coordinator for the Astronomy & Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC) for NSF, NASA, and DOE. She also leads an active research program on Centaur and cometary science.

Maria earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Florida State University and a doctorate in physics from Arizona State University. She spent over 20 years working as a professor and director at research- and teaching-intensive universities conducting an observational research program that was well-funded by NSF (including an NSF CAREER award) and NASA. External to NSF, Dr. Womack contributes to the science community through her involvement with the American Astronomical Society (AAS)’s Editorial Board, AAS Data Tiger Team, and recently as an Officer for the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences.