Dr. Yvonne Pendleton
Yvonne Pendleton is an observational astrophysicist and the Deputy Associate
Center Director of NASA Ames Research Center. Prior to her current
leadership position at Ames, she served as the Senior Advisor for Research
and Analysis at NASA Headquarters (2007-8), where she was responsible for
maximizing the return on NASA's investment through science research grants
across the Earth, Planetary, Heliophysics and Astrophysics science divisions
within the Science Mission Directorate. Her career began at NASA Ames in
1979, first as a graduate student, then as an astrophysics researcher, and
finally as the Division Chief (2005-7), all within the Space Science and
Astrobiology Division. She received her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the
University of California at Santa Cruz in 1987, Master's degree from
Stanford in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1983, and Bachelor of Aerospace
Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1979. She is
currently investigating the organic component of the interstellar medium and
the incorporation of that material into the early solar nebula. The
International Astronomical Union named asteroid 7165 Pendleton to honor her
pioneering work tracing the evolution and distribution of organic material
from stardust to planetesimals. Serving as the NASA Ames Astrobiology
Academy Director for Research in 2004, and the NASA Science Mission
Directorate lead for Education and Public Outreach (2007-8), she has worked
with many education outreach efforts. In her senior level leadership
position at Ames, she has created a new role that will serve as a "Dean of
Students" and is intent on better connecting programs and people to support
NASA's outreach efforts. Named Mentor of the year in 1996, she continues to
devote much of her free time to the encouragement of students at the high
school, college, graduate and post graduate levels, and maintains a close
connection to many of the students she has worked with over the years.