Steering Committee

• Dianne Poster, U.S. Department of Commerce, Chair
• Susana Deustua, U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST, Chair
• Connie Walker, International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS) and National Science Foundation’s (NSF) NOIRLab
• Julie Davis, American Astronomy Society
• Mark Mulholland, U.S. Department of Commerce
• Richard Green, Steward Observatory University of Arizona
• Therese Jones, Satellite Industry Association
• Ashley Vanderley, National Science Foundation

dianne poster, u.s. department of commerce, chair

Dr. Dianne Poster provides more than two decades of technical experience in research and development for measurements, standards, technology, and data at the United States (U.S.) Department of Commerce (DOC) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Her portfolio has included innovative developments in radiation physics and chemistry, materials engineering, and optical, dimensional and chemical metrology. Her most recent work supports the U.S. DOC National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, Office of Space Commerce promoting U.S. space commerce through international technical standards development and innovation in space communications, data, and cybersecurity.  Previously, as the deputy associate director for technology and environmental policy at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Dr. Poster administered the environmental federal regulatory portfolio and advised on policy and strategy issues related to protecting the environment. She has published over 80 peer-reviewed technical journal articles, reviews, and reports.  Her awards include the International Ultraviolet Association special award for the advancement of ultraviolet technology and the NIST chemical science and technology technical achievement award for standard reference material development

susana deustua, u.s. department of commerce, nist, chair 

Dr. Susana Deustua is physicist in the Sensor Science Division in the Physics Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (US).  Dr. Deustua has extensive experience with space- and ground-based imaging and spectroscopy and instrument calibration.  Her primary areas of research are calibration of astronomical flux standards, detectors, and instrumentation.  She leads the NIST Stars project an international collaboration to provide SI-traceable spectral irradiance measurement of stars in the visible and near infrared, and is a co-discoverer of the accelerating expansion of the universe. Dr. Deustua has leadership roles with the International Astronomical Union.   She received a BA in Physics from Swarthmore College and a PhD in Astronomy from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Connie walker, International astonomical Union

Connie has been a Scientist at NSF’s NOIR Lab for over 20 years. She is actively involved with light pollution issues on the ground and more recently in space, heading their Office of Observatory Site Protection. She has leadership roles nationally with the American Astronomical Society and internationally with the International Astronomical Union and with the International Dark-Sky association. In 2020 and 2021, she was co-chair of two workshops focusing on the impacts of satellite constellation and two conferences focusing on the impacts of satellite constellations and artificial light at night. As of this April, she has taken on the co-directorship of the new IAU Center on the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS). She has an AB in astronomy and in physics from Smith College, an MS in electrical engineering from U. Mass Amherst and a PhD in astronomy from U. Arizona. She has had a couple of years of experience as an electrical engineer for a large aerospace company between the advance degrees.

julie davis,  American Astronomy Society

Dr. Julie Davis is the John N. Bahcall Public Policy Fellow at the American Astronomical Society (AAS). She has a PhD is Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin, where she worked on extragalactic radio astronomy surveys. She now works to promote and protect the interests of the astronomical sciences on behalf of the 8000+ members of the AAS.

Mark Mulholland, U.S. Department of Commerce

Mark Mulholland is the Principal Systems Engineer, U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Space Commerce, MITRE.  He has held a wide range of satellite acquisition and space operations jobs dating back to 1976.  He has had careers in the U.S. Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  He is currently a MITRE employee working as a consultant to the Director and staff of the Office of Space Commerce in the U.S. Department of Commerce in his MITRE role as the Principal Systems Engineer for Space Commerce.  He has acquired 45 years of government, international and private-sector experience in satellite design, acquisition, launch, on-orbit operations, and systems engineering for national security, civil and commercial space and ground programs.  He joined the OSC team in September 2019.

Mr. Mulholland was a civil servant in the NOAA Satellite and Information Service (NESDIS) from 2006-2018.  He was the Director of the Policies, Procedures, and System Assurance Division in the Office of Systems Architecture and Advance Planning (OSAAP) until retirement in January 2018.  He organized the first-ever NESDIS enterprise risk management structure. He was the subject matter expert for the 2014 Export Control Reform initiative, helping to secure significant export control reforms for civil and commercial satellite systems. For ten years, he was the NESDIS member of the United States delegation to the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) and worked on the Long-term Sustainability Working Group developing guidelines and best practices for safe space operations. Earlier, Mr. Mulholland served as the acting Deputy System Program Director for the GOES-R satellite program and as the GOES-R Program Executive to the NESDIS Assistant Administrator.  He was the primary subject matter expert for all aspects of space flight safety and participated as the NOAA representative on numerous interagency and international working groups.

Before NOAA, Mr. Mulholland was a division chief in the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA’s) Ground Based Midcourse Program Office in the Missile Defense Agency and in the private sector for Ball Aerospace Corporation managing a systems engineering effort for the joint MDA-Russian Russian-American Observation System (RAMOS) satellite program.

Mr. Mulholland served 22 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring in October 1998. During his career, he worked in various elements of the national security space program including 13 years in the National Reconnaissance Office .  He established the NRO’s first 24/7 space situational awareness center, known today as the NRO Operations Center (NROC).

Mr. Mulholland earned a BS in aeronautical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MS in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Mr. Mulholland attended the Leadership in the 21st Centurycourse at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is a member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Air Force Association and the American Meteorological Society (AMS).   He serves on the AMS Committee on Satellite Meteorology, Oceanography and Climatology

Richard Green, Steward Observatory University of Arizona

Dr. Richard Green is Astronomer and Assistant Director for Government Relations for the astronomy program at the University of Arizona.  He recently served as the Division Director for Astronomical Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation, and currently serves as co-lead of the Policy Hub for the International Astronomical Union’s Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference.  In 2021, he chaired the Policy Working Group for the NSF-sponsored conference SATCON2.  Green is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Astronomical Society.  He has served as the director of three major ground-based astronomical observatories, served on two NASA astronomy space mission science teams, and was listed among the top 100 most highly cited astronomers for his work on quasars and black holes.  He earned his AB from Harvard and his PhD from Caltech, both in Astronomy.

Therese Jones, Satellite Industry Association

Therese Jones joined the Satellite Industry Association as its Senior Director of Policy in January of 2018. Ms. Jones supports SIA’s work on government services, regulatory, legislative, defense, export-control and trade issues of critical importance to the Association’s members.

Prior to joining SIA, Therese was an assistant policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, where she focused on space policy. In this role, she supported the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Army in assessing new space technologies, increasing the resilience of the national space architecture, and determining commercial acquisition strategies for communications and remote sensing services. Her research portfolio also includes several cyber security projects on the impact of cyber incidents to the global economy. Before transitioning into space policy, she worked as an astrophysics researcher focusing on galaxy formation and evolution.

Therese is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Policy Analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She holds a master’s in astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and bachelor’s degrees in astronomy and astrophysics, physics, German, and international studies from The Pennsylvania State University.

ashley vanderley, national science foundation

Dr. Ashley (Zauderer) VanderLey is Senior Advisor for Facilities in the Division of Astronomical Sciences in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the National Science Foundation.  Dr. VanderLey joined the Division of Astronomical Sciences in 2017 as a Program Director. Dr. VanderLey’s responsibilities include work in the Electromagnetic Spectrum Management Unit where she has worked to represent the scientific interests for protection and use of the electromagnetic spectrum both within the United States and internationally. In this role, she represents NSF on NTIA’s Interagency Radio Advisory Committee and its subcommittees, coordinating frequency usage in the National Radio Quiet Zone, and serves as U.S. Head of Delegation on behalf of the State Department to the Radio Astronomy Working Party (7D) of the International Telecommunication Union.  Additionally, she served as a spokesperson and subject matter expert on the U.S. delegation for several agenda items at the 2019 World Radio Conference in Egypt.  She is a member of the NSF-wide ESM Coordination group and has helped lead NSF efforts to establish the cross-Directorate Spectrum Innovation Initiative (SII). Dr. VanderLey completed her masters and Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Maryland, College Park and her bachelor’s degree in Astrophysics from Agnes Scott College.  Upon completion of her Ph.D., she was a Research Fellow and an NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow in the Berger Time Domain Group at Harvard University.