NASA Ames Stars of the Month: September 2026

The NASA Ames Science Directorate has honored a group of dedicated employees for their exceptional contributions to the agency's mission. Among the recipients are Steve Ormsby, Aphrodite Kostakis, Alejandro Borlaff, Sarah Nickerson, Martina Caussi, Keiko Nomura, and Stephen Broccardo. These individuals embody the spirit of entrepreneurship, technical mastery, and teamwork that is essential for advancing exploration both on Earth and into the cosmos.

Steve Ormsby, a project engineer with Amentum in the Center Operations Directorate, has been commended for his unwavering commitment to safety and facility maintenance. His initiative in overseeing the upkeep of division infrastructure is nothing short of exemplary. Aphrodite Kostakis, the Facility Service Manager for building N239 within the Space Biosciences Division, is lauded for her diligent efforts in ensuring the building's safety.

Her proactive approach to preparing for and leading inspections, as well as her suggestion of improvements, benefits the entire community.

Alejandro Borlaff, a research scientist from the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, is celebrated for his groundbreaking work in the Astrophysics Division. As the lead in developing image reduction pipelines for the Hubble Space Telescope and the Roman Space Telescope’s Wide Field Instrument, his algorithms significantly enhance the detection of subtle features in space, thereby maximizing the scientific returns from NASA's flagship missions.

Sarah Nickerson, another research scientist from the Astrophysics Division, has made a substantial impact with her analysis and curation of data from the EXES instrument aboard NASA’s SOFIA observatory. Her work provides high-quality data products that are invaluable to the global astrophysics community.