Congratulations to Thomas Stanley on his promotion

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 15:37:57 -0400
gestar2

Congratulations to Thomas Stanley (617/UMBC), who has been promoted from Research Associate I to Research Associate III within GESTAR II! We asked him about his research and what he likes about working with the Landslides group in the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory (Code 617) at NASA GSFC.

Mr. Stanley tries to predict where and when landslides will occur, at global and regional scales. To do this, the group uses precipitation estimates from the GPM core observatory and other satellites. They combine the rainfall data with other predisposing conditions to make a daily global map of landslide hazard.

He adds, “The thing I love about working here is that I have to learn something every day, just to get the job done; it’s not an employee perk that you can indulge in your spare time. The nature of the research is such that it pushes me outside of things I already know (and hopefully it contributes to the general store of knowledge, as well).

We asked him about any favorite books, and Mr. Stanley provided this feedback:

“I’ve read “Pete the Cat and the Perfect Pizza Party” several times now. In this book, Pete accepts the suggestions of his friends to put their favorite items (pistachios, pretzels, etc.) on the group’s pizza. I think the author’s intention was to encourage young readers to be accepting of other people's different tastes and backgrounds. But I take a quite different lesson from the story: If you just say yes to everything, you end up with a monstrosity that no one wants. Now that we’re in the season of writing grant proposals, it’s a good reminder that we need to be selective about which things to put on our plates.”

(Note: This week, April 7 – 13, 2024, is National Library Week!)