Biography

Daniel Winterhalter is the Chief Scientist of the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC), working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Dr. Winterhalter's research includes the spatial evolution of the solar wind and its interaction with planetary environments, and he also conducts radio telescope observations of extra-solar planets. As a member of the Mars Global Surveyor Magnetometer team, he has studied how the solar wind interacts with Mars' atmosphere and internal magnetic field. Dr. Winterhalter has been deeply involved with the planning, launching and operating of complex spacecraft and space science missions. He has received NASA Achievement Awards for his participation on the Voyagers 1 & 2, Pioneer 11, Mars Observer, and Cassini interplanetary probes, and also received a NASA Special Recognition Certificate for his work on Mars Observer. In addition, he was presented with a Certificate of Recognition for Technology Innovation for the invention and design of the "Compact Electric and Magnetic Sensor". Dr. Winterhalter is a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the American Astronomical Society. He was also an associate editor for the AGU's "Journal of Geophysics", and served on the Education Committee.

He is presently a member of the NASA Advisory Council Heliophysics Subcommittee. Dr. Winterhalter completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics from State University in Fullerton in 1974, received his M.A. degree in Physics from the University of California, Irvine in 1978, an M.S. degree in Geophysics and Space Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1982 and a Ph.D. from UCLA in the same subject in 1987.