Melissa Yang Martin

Melissa Yang Martin
Program Manager, Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition
Dr. Melissa Yang Martin is the Program Manager for NASA Earth Action’s Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition program in the Earth Sciences Division at Headquarters in Washington D.C. In this role, she leads efforts to expand the use of commercial satellite data in support of NASA Earth science research and applications. Trained as an atmospheric chemist, her career spans atmospheric composition science, airborne Earth science missions, and Earth observation data programs.
Dr. Martin has more than 15 years of NASA experience. Previously, she was Program Scientist for the NASA Atmospheric Composition Program, supporting research and analysis programs including SARP, ASIA-AQ, FireSense, and the EVS-4 missions. She was also Mission Manager for the Earth System Science Pathfinder Program Office Earth Venture Suborbital-3 Missions (ESSPO EVS-3). That work entailed management and coordination of the EVS ESSP portfolio, including the project development and operational efforts for the complete lifecycle of these complex Earth Venture missions.
Other roles included NASA Airborne Science Program Deputy for Science, Program Director of the National Suborbital Research Center and a Research Physical Scientist in the NASA Langley Research Center’s Chemistry and Dynamics Branch.
Dr. Martin received a NASA Science Mission Directorate Special Act Award in 2005 for improving government efficiency. She also received the Earth Science Division Peer Award for work on the FireSense Program Leadership Team and several Distinguished Performance Awards.
A graduate of the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Martin received a Ph.D. in Analytical/Atmospheric Chemistry. She also earned a Bachelor’s in Chemistry from Drew University.
Melissa is grounded by her two wonderful daughters, a cat, a dog, and a husband who also serves the NASA mission as a mechanical engineer – keeping life and work all in the NASA family.