Jeffrey Ouellette Named NASA Earth and Space Fellow

Jeffrey Ouellette, a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering, has been awarded a $30,000 NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) for the 2011/2012 academic year.

The fellowship was awarded based on a review of Ouellette’s research project, “Empirical Studies of Soil Moisture Estimation Using L-Band Radar Systems.” The focus of this proposed project is to support NASA's Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) mission currently scheduled for launch in 2014. The mission will provide global, high-resolution soil moisture and freeze-thaw data, available for public use, through use of a combined L-band radar-radiometer system. Ouellette’s goal is to provide an empirical analysis of the radar algorithms currently in place and foster the refinement of these algorithms to provide more accurate soil moisture predictions. Aforementioned data sets include those available from Japan's PALSAR satellite, which is already in orbit, as well as NASA's own UAVSAR, a frequently-used airplane-mounted instrumentation.

Jeffrey Ouellette is a graduate research associate at the Ohio State ElectroScience Laboratory who conducts research in microwave remote sensing, propagation and electromagnetic wave theory. His advisor is Joel Johnson, professor of electrical and computer engineering. Ouellette received his bachelor’s degree from Western New England College where he also received the William G. Bradley award. He is a member of IEEE and the Tau Beta Pi engineering honors society.

The NESSF program helps ensure continued training of a highly qualified workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s scientific goals. A total of 331 NESSF applications were received for 2011/2012; out of which NASA offered 57 awards.