Jan F. Mcgarry

Jan F. McGarry received the B.A. degree in mathematics from Goucher College, Towson, MD, USA, in 1974 and the M.A. degree in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA, in 1983. She has worked in satellite laser ranging (SLR) and altimetry since she joined NASA in 1974, developing instrument control software, modeling hardware and developing software simulators, generating mathematical algorithms to optimize system performance, and performing data analysis for ground-based, space-based, and airborne systems. She previously worked on four of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Institute's in-house built spaceflight laser altimeter instruments: the Mars Observer Laser Altimeter on the MGS spacecraft, the Mercury Laser Altimeter on MESSENGER, the Lunar Observer Laser Altimeter on LRO, and the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System on ICESat. She is currently the Receiver Algorithm Subsystem Lead for the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System and is also the Lead for the development of NASA's Next Generation Satellite Laser Ranging System which will replace NASA's aging global SLR Network with new state-of-the-art SLR systems.