Kathleen Morrish is a program manager for the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA). NIMA's mission is to provide timely, relevant, and accurate imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information in support of national security objectives. She works in the Advanced Research and Development Division (ATTR) in Reston, Virginia.
In support of its mission, NIMA maintains an active program of research and development (R&D) in the areas of geospatial science, physical science, computer science, image science, and mathematics. Mathematical areas of particular interest to NIMA include combinatorial strategies, wavelet representations, and refinement schemes. Nearly all of NIMA's R&D is extramural; most scientists and mathematicians at NIMA are program or project managers who oversee research performed by members of academia and industry.
Kathleen's primary role is to manage NIMA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. In addition, she provides technical support on experiment design and data analysis, and evaluates research proposals. She often works on teams. About one third of the program managers in ATTR hold Ph.Ds.
Many ATTR projects are multidisciplinary. "One of my co-workers, an expert in littoral (land-water interface) imaging, asked me to review a measure designed to determine which areas of shoreline are most important to revise in databases. The measure was based on the amount of change between the previous shoreline location and the new shoreline location. I saw that the measure was flawed. It overestimated changes along shorelines with significant curvature. It also didn't take into account a priori information about the importance of a shoreline. I recommended a different measure that does not have these drawbacks. As a result, NIMA will be in a better position to determine which areas of shoreline should have highest update priority in its databases."
Kathleen holds a B.S. in mathematics from Lyman Briggs College, a program at Michigan State University; an M.A. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison; and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland at College Park. After graduation, she spent two years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Mathematical Research Branch (MRB). She then accepted a position at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) as a computer scientist, and has worked in various capacities for the Agency ever since. She is on loan to NIMA for two years. "During my time at DIA, I've used my background in mathematics and statistics to help solve interdisciplinary problems and bring additional rigor to intelligence processes. For example, I helped improve the performance of one of DIA's key computers during the time the U.S. was preparing to help liberate Kuwait from Iraq. I've also had a chance to try things like teaching, staff work, and supervision and management."
"I decided to enter Government service because I'd already worked for the Government for several years by the time I completed my Ph.D., and I felt a Government career would give me the flexibility to move between jobs and grow while providing good job security." While Government service is not as secure as it used to be, Kathleen maintains it is still a good way to have a broad career. "I'd recommend a solid background in the scientific areas to which you want to apply your mathematical expertise, plus a firm grounding in basic statistics. And pay careful attention to communication skills: speaking and writing are so important!"
No matter where you work, Kathleen recommends making lots of contacts, and keeping in touch with them. "You never know when you might be able to help one another out."
