Marc Postman, Melissa McGrath, Jason Tumlinson Community Missions Office Collection

This collection consists of two record cartons of documents related to the Community Missions Office (CMO) collected by Marc Postman, Melissa McGrath, and Jason Tumlinson. The dates of the collection span 1994 and 2009, with the bulk of material produced between 2001 and 2003. Collection topics focus on planning and management documentation such as design reviews, strategic plans, framework presentations, meeting minutes, and concept studies. Some of the specific projects referenced include Kepler, the National Virtual Observatory, MAST, and the SuperNova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP).

Melissa McGrath began working at STScI as a staff scientist in 1992. Over the course of her thirteen-year career with the institute, she held various roles including chief of the Science Planning Branch and an instrument scientist working on Hubble Space Telescope spectrographs. In 2002 she became the head of the Community Missions Office, and led the division until she left to become the Deputy Directory of the Science and Technology Directorate at the Marshall Space Flight Center in 2005.

Marc Postman began working as an assistant astronomer at STScI in 1989. After serving as the Data Archive Branch Chief from 1995 to 2003, he became the head of the Community Missions Office from 2005 until 2019. While in this role, he held multiple other positions across the institute such as a principle investigator with the ATLAST project, principle investigator for the CLASH Multi-cycle Treasury Program, and interim deputy director for STScI. Since leaving the Community Missions Office, he has served as the Chair of the Science Staff, interim deputy director of the institute for a second term, and as the Head of the Science Mission Office.

Jason Tumlinson started working at STScI as an assistant astronomer in 2008 and became a full astronomer in 2018. During his time at STScI, he has contributed to research relating to the study of galactic gas as well as contributing to investigation and working group teams for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. He currently serves as the head of the Community Missions Office.

Sources:

“Dr. Melissa Ann McGrath Named Deputy Director of Science, Technology Directorate at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.” SpaceNews. January 27, 2005. https://spacenews.com/dr-melissa-ann-mcgrath-named-deputy-director-of-science-technology-directorate-at-nasa-marshall-space-flight-center/.

“Jason Tumlinson: Astronomer.” Space Telescope Science Institute. Accessed February 11, 2025. https://www.stsci.edu/stsci-research/research-directory/jason-tumlinson.

“Jason Tumlinson: Head, Community Missions Office.” Space Telescope Science Institute. Accessed February 11, 2025. https://www.stsci.edu/who-we-are/leadership/jason-tumlinson.

“Marc Postman.” Space Telescope Science Institute. Accessed February 11, 2025. https://www.stsci.edu/who-we-are/leadership/marc-postman.

“Melissa McGrath.” SETI Institute. Accessed February 11, 2025. https://www.seti.org/our-scientists/melissa-mcgrath.