Steven Platnick - Former Deputy Aqua Project Scientist

Steve Platnick

Steven.E.Platnick@nasa.gov
(301) 614-5634

Steven Platnick’s research includes theoretical / experimental studies of satellite, aircraft, and ground-based cloud remote sensing. He has been involved extensively with remote sensing field studies, including use of the MODIS Airborne Simulator instrument flown on the NASA ER-2 along with flight scientist roles during MAST, ARMCAS, FIRE-ACE, SAFARI-2000, and CRYSTAL-FACE field campaigns. He is an associate member of the MODIS Atmosphere Science Team working on operational cloud optical and microphysical products, and a member of the CloudSat Science Team.

His collaborations with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center began in 1993, most recently as a member of the Climate and Radiation Branch in the Laboratory for Atmospheres. Prior to that, he was a research associate professor in the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County - an affiliation begun in 1996. During this time he led the development of a comprehensive set of graduate-level atmospheric physics courses within the Department of Physics of which he taught several. He previously held a National Research Council Research Associate position at the NASA Ames Research Center as well as a research and development position at the Hewlett-Packard Co. for six years. His work with Hewlett-Packard included two years as a visiting faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University.

He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Duke University and the University of California, Berkeley, respectively, and a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Arizona.