Dr. Olivia L. Lupie

Dr. Olivia Lupie is the Hubble Space Telescope instrument systems manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Together with the mission operations manager and deputy, Lupie is responsible for assuring the health and safety of the observatory and its science instruments, managing day-to-day operations and leading technical teams of scientists and engineers to maximize scientific productivity and longevity of the observatory.

Lupie’s career on the Hubble program began after graduate school in 1983 when she joined the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) to define the Hubble science instrument calibration methods, algorithms and databases and to develop science instrument focal plane models. She also co-led the team at STScI that prepared and executed the initial on-orbit verification of the observatory in 1990.

Over the course of 21 years at STScI, Lupie contributed to many aspects of the Hubble science operations mission. She served as the observatory scientist leading the effort to define programs to characterize overall observatory performance such as pointing stability and cross instrument effects. She also served as the Fine Guidance Sensor instrument scientist and the Wide Field Camera 3 operations scientist during its design and development, and led the team of scientists that defined the Wide Field Camera 3 filter suite. In 1995, Lupie was granted a short sabbatical to support Astro-2, a shuttle-based observatory on NASA mission STS-67, as a member of the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment team.

In 2004, in order to experience Hubble’s Servicing Mission 4 from the frontlines with an operations and engineering perspective, Lupie joined Goddard as Hubble’s life extension initiatives and operations manager. As technical manager, Lupie led the team that developed the critical capability to use one gyro control to prolong the life of Hubble.

As a Ph.D. astronomer, Lupie’s research interests include stellar and quasi-stellar object spectropolarimetry, long-term studies of the Jupiter-Io system and lunar spectroscopy. She has been recognized with many individual achievement and group awards, including the Computer Science Corporation President's Excellence Award for Career Achievement and a NASA Exceptional Achievement Award.

Lupie was born and raised in Westchester County, New York, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in astronomy from Villanova University and a master’s and Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in Maryland and loves to hike with her dog and other best friends. She also enjoys conducting observing runs at Kitt Peak National Observatory, creating stained glass and leatherwork items, and educating youth about science and the humane treatment of animals.