The NASA Ames Science Directorate has taken a moment to recognize that some of its employees are, in fact, doing things. Specifically, Lora Jovanović, Tammy Moore, Frances Donovan, and Jaden Ta have been named the Science Stars of the Month for May 2026, a designation that celebrates their entrepreneurial spirit, technical expertise, and collaborative disposition - qualities that apparently still exist in government agencies.
Lora Jovanović, a research scientist with the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, has been singled out for dramatically expanding the Optical Constants Database. She increased the number of available experimental optical constant datasets from 297 to 533, which is a 79 percent jump in data that models need to interpret information from missions like SPHEREx, Cassini, New Horizons, and Juno. Because when you're trying to figure out what a distant moon is made of, guessing based on insufficient data is not ideal.
Tammy Moore, the Space Biosciences Division’s Resource Analyst, is being recognized for something much less glamorous but arguably more crucial: navigating major changes in budget guidelines and processes. She has been a steady source of support for the entire division, which is code for “everyone knows where to go when the spreadsheets stop making sense.”
Frances Donovan, a scientist and project manager in the Space Biosciences Division, earned her star for serving as the Contracting Officer’s Representative for the FILMSS-2 task - that's Fully Integrated Lifecycle Mission Support Services, if you were wondering - and for inventing new approaches to simplify task management. She has been educating and supporting task requestors, which suggests she has the patience of a saint and the organizational skills of a spreadsheet.
Jaden Ta, a deputy project manager in the Earth Science Project Office, is being recognized for her contributions to the Earth Venture Suborbital FarmFlux investigation. She led the development of the project’s Investigation Implementation Plan and played a strategic role in determining where to deploy research aircraft. Because you can't just fly planes over random fields and hope for the best, apparently.