Dr. Amber Jean McCullum

Affiliation: Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) , NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)

Branch: Biospheric Science Branch (SGE)

Email: amberjean.mccullum@nasa.gov

Professional Biography

Dr. Amber Jean McCullum is a researcher and capacity building specialist in the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center. Her work in Earth Action focuses on project management, community engagement, and creating remote sensing trainings for land and water applications. She is the Program Manager for NASA’s Indigenous Peoples Initiative within the Community Action element. She is also the lead trainer in ecological conservation for NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing and Training (ARSET) Program and the Impact and Transition Lead for NASA’s Western Water Applications Office (WWAO). She has a passion for remote sensing for water resource and agricultural applications, science communication, engagement and relationship building across NASA and Indigenous communities, and student empowerment through STEM education. 

Education

She received her B.S. in Geology and Environmental Geosciences from the College of Charleston, her M.S. in Geology from San Francisco State University, and her PhD in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. 

Awards & Others

University of California, Santa Cruz Hammett Fellowship, 2015

NASA Ames Honor Award, 2014

Silicon Valley Initiatives Fellowship, 2013

NASA Group Achievement Award, ARC Family, 2013

University of California, Santa Cruz Dissertation Research Award, 2012

University of California, Santa Cruz Regent’s Fellowship, 2012–2014

Women at NASA Feature, Female Scientist Spotlight, 2012

San Francisco State Graduate Student Distinguished Achievement Award, 2011

California State University Research Competition, SFSU Math and Science, 2011 NASA Group Achievement Award, NASA DEVELOP National Program, 2011

Select Publications

*Maiden Name: Kuss

McCullum, A.J. C. McClellan, B. Daudert, J. Huntington, R. Green, V. Ly, A.R.G. Marley, N.R. Tulley, C. Morton, K.C. Hegewisch, J.T. Abatzoglou, D. McEvoy, 2021, Satellite-based Drought Reporting on the Navajo Nation, Journal American Water Resources Association, 57(5), p 675 – 691. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12909.

Prados A., A.Carleton-Hug, P. Gupta, A. Mehta, B. Blevins, C. Schmidt, D. Barbato, A.J. McCullum, E. Hook, E. Podest, M. Follette Cook, S. Hudson-Odoi, and T. Kinsey, 2019, Impact of the ARSET Program on Use of Remote Sensing Data, Journal of Geo-Information, 8(6), 261; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi8060261.

Kidson, R.L., N.M. Taylor, B.M. Haddad, K.J. Langford, M.C. Peel, A.W. Western, T.A. McMahon, A.J.M. Kuss, 2015, Long-run persistence in reservoir inflows: Empirical Mode Decomposition in Sydney and Melbourne, Proceedings of the OzWater Conference.

Kuss, A. J.M.and J.J. Gurdak, 2014. Groundwater level response in U.S. principal aquifers to ENSO, NAO, PDO, and AMO, Journal of Hydrology, 519, 1939-1952.

Newcomer, M.E., A.J.M. Kuss, T. Ketron, A. Remar, V. Choksi, J.W. Skiles, 2013, Estuarine sediment deposition during wetland restoration: A GIS and remote sensing modeling approach, Geocarto International, pp. 17.

Nguyen, A., and A. J. Kuss, 2013. Impacts of snowpack on wildfires in the Sierra Nevada, Earth

Observer.

Kuss, A. J., W.T. Brandt, J. Randall, B. Floyd, A. Bourai, M. Newcomer, C. Schmidt, J.W.

Skiles. 2012. Comparison of changes in groundwater storage using GRACE data and a hydrological model in California’s Central Valley, Proceedings of the ASPRS.

Kuss, A. J., W.T. Brandt, J. Randall, B. Floyd, A. Bourai, M. Newcomer, C. Schmidt, J.W.

Skiles. 2012. Groundwater storage estimates in the Central Valley aquifer using GRACE

data, Earthzine.

Johnson, E., A. Nguyen, S. Adkins, A. J. Kuss. 2012. NASA Ames Research Center DEVELOP

Program, Summer 2012, BAMMA Journal. 6(2). 3–4.

Newcomer, M. E., A. J. Kuss, T. Ketron, A. Remar, V. Choski, K. Grove. J. W. Skiles. 2011.

Modeling Sediment Deposition for Predicting Marsh Habitat Development, Proceedings of the ASPRS.

Hsu W., A. J. Kuss, T. Ketron, A. Nguyen, A. Remar, M. Newcomer, E. Fleming, L. Bebout, B.

Bebout, A. Detweiler, J.W. Skiles. 2011. Hyperspectral biofilm classification analysis for carrying capacity of migratory birds in the south bay salt ponds, Proceedings of the ASPRS