Marilee Roell joined the NASA team in 1990 after graduating from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (EE). She later earned a Master of Science degree in EE from the same university before she began working for the SAGE III team as the Lead Integration and Test Engineer for the Meteor-3M mission in 1997. She was responsible for developing test procedures and conducting integration testing of the SAGE III/M3M instrument at both the NASA Langley test facility and the Russian spacecraft facility in Istra, Russia. This first of three instruments in the SAGE III series was launched in December 2001 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan and operated for 5 years.
While working to complete her dissertation at the Georgia Institute of Technology in pursuit of a Ph.D in Earth and Atmospheric Science, she joined the SAGE III on ISS team as an Atmospheric Scientist. After graduation, she jumped right into the task of understanding the instrument performance requirements for SAGE III on ISS science products. In 2016, Roell accepted the position of SAGE III/ISS Science Manager responsible for the management of the SAGE III science budget and validation activity during the on-orbit operational phase of the mission. This second of three instruments in the SAGE III series was launched on February 19, 2017 on a Space X Falcon 9 rocket as Dragon cargo to the ISS and installed robotically over 10 days to the ELC4 platform.
“Working at Langley over the last 27 years has gone beyond my wildest and happiest career dreams and working with the SAGE III teams on two missions has led to some of the best highlights in my career,” said Roell.
She looks forward to seeing the completion of a science mission life cycle and the beginning of the SAGE IV follow-on series of instruments.
“I look forward to contributing to production of world class science products which include stratospheric ozone, water vapor, and aerosol measurements that inform policy and lead to a better understanding of how stratospheric processes influence life on the surface of our planet.”
Her hobbies include travel, reading and watching science fiction stories and movies, and occasionally playing the latest video game. In between those activities, she enjoys gardening, weight lifting, meeting new and old friends, and visiting family.
