Anne L. Kinney is an American space scientist and educator. Kinney is currently the Deputy Center Director atNASAGoddard Space Flight Center. Previously, she held positions as the head of the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) for theNational Science Foundation (NSF),[1] the Chief Scientist of theW.M. Keck Observatory, Director of the Solar System Exploration Division atNASAGoddard Space Flight Center, Director of the Origins Program at NASAJet Propulsion Laboratory,[2] and Director of the Universe Division atNASA Headquarters. She earned a bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison and a doctorate in astrophysics fromNew York University, and has published more than 80 papers onextragalactic astronomy.[1] She was an instrument scientist for theFaint Object Spectrograph that flew on theHubble Space Telescope.[3]
Throughout her career, she has overseen numerous space missions, including theSpitzer Space Telescope, theWilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), theGalaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX),[1] theChandra X-Ray Observatory,[3] theCosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS), and two Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions.[4] Her work has earned her the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service, the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership, and several NASA Group Achievement Awards for the Keck Observatory Archive, theJames Webb Space Telescope, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (now known asFermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope), and theLunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter.[1]
Kinney is a science educator, serving on the Council of theAmerican Astronomical Society, is a visiting scholar at theInstitute of Astronomy at Cambridge in the United Kingdom,[3] and has sat on the editorial board ofAstronomy Magazine since 1997.[1] While serving at Keck Observatory, she piloted the Keck Visitor Scholars Program, which gives graduate students and post-doctoral fellows hands-on experience inobservational astronomy.[5] She did public outreach for the Hubble Space Telescope, forming theSpace Telescope Science Institute education group, and created Amazing Space, a website for children to learn science, math, and astronomy.[3]