Education
2020 Ph.D., University of Central Florida (UCF), Orlando, FL, USA, Physics – Planetary Sciences Track. Ph.D. candidate. GPA 3.8
Anticipated defense Spring 2020.
2015 M.S., Texas A&M-Commerce University (TAMU-C), Commerce, TX, USA, Physics. GPA 4.0
2013 B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA, Earth, Atmospheric, & Planetary Sciences (EAPS).
Awards and Grants
Spring 2020 UCF Order of the Pegasus Award
Spring 2019 UCF Physics Graduate Student of the Year Runner-Up, Physics Department, UCF
Spring 2018 Graduate Student Service Award: Mentoring Matters, Physics Department, UCF
Fall 2018 Outer Planets Assessment Group Meeting Early Career Travel Grant
Fall 2017 Florida Space Grant Consortium
Spring 2014 Best Graduate Student Presentation Award,
Physics & Astronomy Department, TAMU-C
Employment
Fall 2020 – Present Postdoctoral Researcher, Southwest Research Institute, UCF
Fall 2016 – Spring 2020 Graduate Research Assistant, Physics Department, UCF
Fall 2015 – Spring 2016 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Physics Department, UCF
Fall 2013 – Spring 2015 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Physics and Integrated Science Labs, Physics & Astronomy Department, TAMU-C
Fall 2010 – Spring 2012 Undergraduate Research Assistant, EAPS Department, MIT
Spring 2011 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Hands-On Astronomy: Observing Stars and Planets, EAPS Department, MIT
Fall 2010 – Spring 2011 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Calculus and Differential Equations, Experimental Study Group, MIT
Fall 2009 – Spring 2011 Computing Help Desk Consultant, IS&T, MIT
Professional and Departmental Service
Summer 2021 – Winter 2024 Early Career Secretary, Small Bodies Assessment Group
Summer 2023 (Postponed) Chair, Gordon Research Seminar – Origins of Solar Systems
Summer 2019 Panelist, Florida Board of Governors Space Coast Panel
Spring 2019 – Spring 2020 Vice President, UCF Women in Physics Society
Spring 2018 – Fall 2019 Co-chair, UCF Planetary Science Journal Club
Summer 2018 – Spring 2020 Graduate Student Mentorship Committee Leader, Physics Department, UCF
Fall 2017, Spring 2021 Executive Secretary, NASA Review Panel
Outreach and Mentorship
Spring 2021 – Skype a Scientist, Astronomy on Tap, Girl Scouts presentations
Summer 2019 – Fall 2019 – Volunteer physics course instructor for Florida Prison Education Program
Knights Under the Stars – Volunteer at UCF Observatory for public events
Summer 2019 – Currently mentoring an undergraduate student through UCF’s Summer undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) to carry out laboratory research and present a poster
Fall 2018 – Spring 2019 – Mentored two undergraduate students through UCF’s F.L.E.A.R.N. program to conduct laboratory research and present posters
Summer 2017 – Summer 2018 – Mentored an undergraduate student through UCF’s SURF to carry out laboratory research, present a poster and publish a paper in UCF’s undergraduate research journal
Research Projects and Training
Fall 2020 – Present Southwest Research Institute
Currently analyzing Cassini UVIS solar occultation data to study the structure and composition of Saturn’s rings
Led a lunar lander dust mitigation modeling effort in support of the NASA Artemis Human Lander System program
PI of a successful JWST proposal to observe the asteroid Psyche, Co-I on an HST program proposal to search for water on M-type asteroids using far-UV observations
Fall 2015 – Spring 2020 UCF Center for Microgravity Research
Carried out simulations investigating granular mechanics through modifications of n-body and molecular dynamics codes, completing my drop tower experiment plan, and analyzing results from ground and flight based experiments
Designed a drop tower apparatus and experiment plan to investigate the rebound portion of low energy, microgravity collision events to better understand regolith adhesion in environments relevant to early planet formation and surfaces of small, airless bodies
Designed and implemented the attitude control system, performed power and communication analyses, developed a data compression solution, and contributed to the experiment plan through numerical simulations and bench testing for a 3U CubeSat mission, Q-PACE, to study the early stages of planetesimal formation
Led experiment plan and assisted with testing and ground support for 2018 and 2019 COLLisions Into Dust Experiment (COLLIDE) on Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo and Blue Origin New Shepard
Led experiment plan and provided flight support for 2017 and 2018 parabolic flight (PRIME) campaigns to study planetesimal accretion and surface processes on small, airless bodies
Summer 2019 Exploring the Physics of Planetary Environments, Summer Course Space and Plasma Physics, KTH Stockholm Sweden
Successful applicant to course addressing the physics of atmospheres, ionospheres and magnetospheres of various Solar System bodies: from small comets to the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. Workshop description.
Spring 2019 Planetary Mission Concept Studies Proposal: Ice Giants for New Frontiers
On proposal team to investigate options for Uranus and Neptune New Frontiers missions for inclusion in the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey
Summer 2018 NASA JPL Planetary Science Summer Seminar
Principal Investigator for New Frontiers Uranus orbiter mission concept carried out with 18 other early career scientists and engineers
Fall 2013 – Summer 2015 TAMU-C Master’s Thesis Research
Determined limitations of observing secondary eclipses using sub-meter ground-based telescopes
Spring 2013 MIT Undergraduate Thesis Research
Thesis on comparison of fitting
methods for point-spread functions through star field analysis
January 2011 MIT Astronomy Field Camp
Studied Near Earth Objects under
the guidance of Dr. Edward Bowell at Lowell Observatory, presented results to
Lowell astronomy community
Summer 2010 – Summer 2011 MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunity
Program
Observations and analysis of
exoplanet transits using telescopes at Wallace Astrophysical Observatory
Conference Abstracts
June 2021. Small Bodies Assessment Group Meeting, Virtual, Presenting Author. 2-min lightning talk.
Jarmak, S. et al. 2021. Searching for water on the asteroid Psyche with JWST.
September 2019 DPS Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, Presenting Author, Poster.
Jarmak, S. et al. 2019. Experimental Investigation of Regolith Adhesion in Low-Energy, Microgravity Interactions: Implications for Planetesimal Accretion
June 2019 Gordon Research Seminar and Conference on Origins of Solar Systems, South Hadley, MA, USA, Presenting Author, Poster. Jarmak, S. et al. 2019. The Role of Low Energy, Microgravity Particle Interactions in Promoting Mass Transfer
March 2019 LPSC Meeting, Houston, TX, USA, Presenting Author, Poster.
Jarmak, S. et al. 2019. QUEST: A New Frontiers Uranus Orbiter Concept Study.
October 2018 DPS Meeting, Knoxville, TN, USA, Presenting Author, Poster.
Jarmak, S. et al. 2018. Experimental and Numerical Studies of Planetesimal Formation via Collisional Accretion.
September 2018 OPAG Meeting, Pasadena, CA, Presenting Author. Poster + 2-min lightning talk. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/meetings/sep2018/posters/Jarmak.pdf
Jarmak, S. et al. 2019. QUEST: A New Frontiers Uranus Orbiter Concept Study.
December 2017 AGU Meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA, Presenting Author, Poster.
Jarmak, S. et al. 2017. Mass Transfer via Low Velocity Rebound in a Microgravity Environment.
October 2016 DPS Meeting, Pasadena, CA, USA, Presenting Author, Poster.
Jarmak, S. et al. 2016. Mass Transfer via Low Velocity Impacts into Regolith.
First Author Manuscripts
S. Jarmak et al., The Adhesive Response of Regolith to Low-Energy Disturbances in Microgravity, Gravitational and Space Research. 9(2021), 1-12.
S. Jarmak et al., QUEST: A New Frontiers Uranus Orbiter Mission Concept Study, Acta Astronaut. 140(2020), 6-26.
S. Jarmak et al., CubeSat Particle Aggregation Collision Experiment (Q-PACE): Design of a 3U CubeSat Mission to Investigate Planetesimal Formation, Acta Astronaut. 155(2019) 131-142.
