Heliophysics Leadership
Nicola Fox, Heliophysics Division Director
Nicola Fox is the Heliophysics Division Director in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Heliophysics is not only vital to understanding Earth’s most important and life-sustaining star, but the study of key space phenomena and processes supports situational awareness to better protect astronauts, satellites, and robotic missions exploring the solar system and beyond.
Until August 2018, Fox worked at the Applied Physics Lab at the Johns Hopkins University in Laurel, Maryland, where she was the chief scientist for Heliophysics and the project scientist for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe – humanity’s first mission to a star. Fox is a proven leader with extensive project, program and supervisory experience, having served as the deputy project scientist for the Van Allen Probes, and the operations scientist for the International Solar Terrestrial Physics program. She has authored numerous scientific articles and papers in addition to delivering science presentations worldwide. In addition to her research, she is also keenly involved with science education and outreach activities.
Fox was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire in England. She graduated from The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London with a BS in Physics. She received an MS in Telematics and Satellite Communications from the University of Surrey. She then returned to Imperial College to complete a PhD in Space and Atmospheric Physics. She has also previously worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, receiving a number of agency awards for outstanding performance.
Margaret Luce, Heliophysics Division Deputy Director
Margaret (Peg) Luce is the Heliophysics Division Deputy Director in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA.
Previously, she was the Earth Sciences Division Deputy Director where she provided oversight and advice on a portfolio of missions that advances technologies, flight, research, and Earth applications to increase the World understanding of the Earth as a system. Peg joined NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 1987 following 6 years of engineering experience in the private sector. She managed the structural-mechanical subsystems on the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. She was the Project Formulation Manager of the Earth Observing System Aura Mission. In 2002, Ms. Luce became the Associate Director of Flight Projects. Ms. Luce has a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Ms. Luce joined NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 1987 following 6 years of engineering experience in the private sector. She served as the Mechanical Systems Manager on the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), where she managed the structural-mechanical subsystem. This involved supporting the build, test and launch of four of the first series of six TDRS spacecraft, as well as performing advanced concept studies for the next generation of TDRS satellites. In 1992, Ms. Luce became the Project Formulation Manager of the Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura Mission at GSFC. In this position, she worked with a team of scientific and engineering experts to optimize the instrument suite, assess multiple mission architectures, and study multiple variations on the mission funding level and profile. She was later promoted to Deputy Project Manager for the EOS Aura Project, where she managed the project technical staff in support of the development of four large, complex, state-of-the-art science instruments to study the composition of several layers of the atmosphere and to measure climatic changes on the Earth. Ultimately, she was selected as the Project Manager for the $900 million EOS Aura Project and managed it until 2 years prior to its launch in 2004.
In May 2002, Ms. Luce became the Associate Director of Flight Projects for Project Formulation at GSFC and served as a senior member of the Flight Projects Directorate staff. In this role, she participated in top-level decisions related to the assignment of leaders for flight projects in implementation as well as under study. In 2006 she became Chief of a new start-up office, the Advanced Concepts and Formulation Office, which she established to serve as the central organization within the Flight Projects Directorate for the formulation of new missions. She led a team of civil servants and contractors to provide project management expertise for the center’s mission concept studies and mission proposals.
Ms. Luce holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. She is married and has two sons, both of whom are future engineers.
