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Mark earned a B.S. in Physics from Cal State Poly, Pomona in 1991, working part-time jobs in the local aerospace industry as a junior electro-optical engineer. From 1989 to 2004, Mark worked at the Earth & Space Sciences Division of JPL. His first jobs included pre-flight radiometric calibration of remote sensing instruments under development. Solving in-flight calibration issues as a field research engineer, Mark built a ground truth program including a suite of custom portable instruments and analysis software for remote deployment worldwide. For the AVIRIS and MISR/EOS projects, among others, he implemented several field campaigns per year for the vicarious calibration & validation of airborne and on-orbit sensors. Over the years, Mark developed Hellwinger’s Irregulars, an ad-hoc cadre of student field assistants from around the world. From 2000-2003, he also assisted with instruction of the physics of remote sensing at Cal Tech. Mark is a remote sensing scientist & end-to-end EO/IR calibration specialist at Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST, formerly TRW). Mark’s outside interests include alternative energy and propulsion, traveling the countryside in his 6x4 off-road RV, and public outreach from a Skeptical perspective. He built 3 Color-Generators of his own design; the first presented to Don Wolpert during Don’s January 2008 NGST Retirement Luncheon; the other 2 he made at OISC’s request. Mark demonstrated their operation as a volunteer Optricks Apprentice at the 5th Annual OISC/OSSC Optricks Days at the Discovery Science Center March 2 & 3, 2008 in Santa Ana, CA. When Nominated to run for Councilor, Mark said: “I consider it an honor and would be pleased to serve OSSC in any capacity needed.”
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