Heather received her BA in math and physics from Austin College in 2007 and went on to earn her MS in atmospheric science from Colorado State University in 2009, where she focused on analysis of cloud and radiation measurements from the Cloud Profiling Radar onboard the CloudSat satellite platform. She then taught high school math for one year before joining the Suomi-NPP VIIRS Aerosol Calibration and Validation Team at NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research. There, she played a key role in pre-launch systems readiness as well as VIIRS aerosol algorithm testing and maintenance both pre- and post-launch. Subsequently, Heather began supporting the JPSS-1 and JPSS-2 Flight Project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center where she helped develop the science validation test plan for JPSS-1 and updated documentation and contract requirements for JPSS-2. Heather returned to CIRA in 2013 and, since then, has supported the CloudSat and OCO-2/3 satellite missions through the development and maintenance of algorithms, analysis tools, data products, and documentation. She is also the Co-Lead and Algorithm Integration Specialist for the GeoCarb satellite mission’s Ground Data Operations Center. Her past projects include management of a NOAA-NESDIS Technology Maturation Project to streamline the process of assimilating small satellite and cube satellite data into NOAA operational forecasting models and evaluation of the NASA MEaSUREs Water Vapor Project (NVAP-M) blended observational water vapor dataset.