[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 26, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO DR. MARIE LEVINE--30TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WOMAN OF THE 
                                  YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 26, 2023

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as we pay special tribute to 
the contributions and sacrifices made by our Nation's women during 
Women's History Month. It is an honor to pay homage to outstanding 
women who are making a difference in my Congressional District. I would 
like to recognize a remarkable woman, Dr. Marie Levine of Pasadena, 
California.
  Marie arrived in Pasadena in 1982 from France to attend the 
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where she received a 
master's degree and a Ph.D. degree in engineering. Upon graduation, she 
joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where she is still working to this day.
  As a Principal Engineer, Marie's work has focused on formulating and 
developing extreme precision space observatories for NASA Astrophysics 
science missions. On her latest project, the James Webb Space Telescope 
(JWST), she guided the integrated modeling and simulations required to 
predict the observatory's performance in space. Because of its 
complexity, JWST could not be fully tested on the ground prior to 
launch, and verification of the on-orbit imaging quality and stability 
had to be done primarily by computer simulations. This task was 
especially daunting because there were no flight precedents to build 
upon and new modeling techniques had to be developed for predicting 
motion stability to the accuracy of one thousandth the diameter of a 
human hair across the 6-meter telescope. The job also involved 
coordinating the work of hundreds of engineers from across the country, 
including from universities, NASA center, and aerospace contractors. 
The amazing images produced by the telescope are a testament to the 
many who contributed and Marie's outstanding leadership. This telescope 
will enable new scientific discoveries by looking back in time for how 
solar systems and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, and by detecting 
signs of life in the chemical composition of planets around other 
stars.
  Integrated modeling is now being successfully implemented on NASA's 
next astrophysics observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, 
and Dr. Levine is on NASA's Standing Review Board as the integrated 
modeling specialist. With other experts around the country, she is 
currently working on early formulation plans for a large space 
telescope mission to find and characterize Earth-like planets. For her 
remarkable achievements in her field, Marie has received many awards 
during her 32-year career at JPL, including the JPL Magellan Award and 
the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.
  Active in her community and with a love of gardening, she volunteered 
with the Pasadena Water and Power Department to create a drought 
tolerant demonstration garden at the Sheldon Reservoir, which was 
recently acknowledged by the State of California Secretary of Natural 
Resources.
  I ask all Members to join me in honoring this exceptional, well-
respected woman of California's 30th Congressional District, Dr. Marie 
Levine.

                          ____________________