An Engineer’s Journey: Exploring Earth, Mars, and Beyond, Together

Abstract:
Dr. Mariko S. Burgin is the 2024 ECE Rising Star Alumni Award Recipient. In this talk, she shares her journey working on science and engineering problems to explore Earth, Mars, and Beyond. She will share her passion for building collaborative communities to pursue these ambitious goals and her experiences navigating the fast-evolving world of Earth observation, space technology, and remote sensing.

Bio:

Dr. Mariko S. Burgin is a Senior Technical Manager in the Space Resources Program at Blue Origin and the 2023-2024 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) President. Dr. Burgin received an M.S. degree in electrical engineering and information technology from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and an M.S. and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, USA. Her background is in applied electromagnetics and active/passive microwave remote sensing (radars, radiometers). She was a scientist and engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California, USA, from 2016-2024 working on radar science and engineering, and project systems engineering and mission formulation for Earth and Mars missions. She was the Mars Sample Return Break-The-Chain Domain Lead. Dr. Burgin is passionate about mentoring and founded the IEEE GRSS Women Mentoring Women program.