Laser Focus World 2021 Rising Stars Awards: Margaret Dominguez

Aug. 3, 2021
In this fourth showcase, we highlight Margaret Dominguez, an optical engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and a research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Dr. Margaret Dominguez is an optical engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and a research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She has conducted optical design, alignment, and metrology on the ground support equipment for the James Webb Space Telescope’s Integrated Science Instrument Module. Currently, her work includes aligning, assembling, and testing the grating prism component of the Wide Field instrument on NASA’s Roman Space Telescope.

“The work I am doing to help study the distribution of galaxies and unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter is important,” Dominguez says. “I look forward to the launch of the Roman Space Telescope to help us enhance our understanding of our expanding universe."

Dominguez is a STEM advisory board member at the Children’s Science Center in Fairfax, VA, and also performs educational outreach to teach (mostly elementary and middle school girls) about optics both locally and internationally. She also was recently named a 2021 Ambassador for The Optical Society of America.

I am excited to be part of the optics and photonics community, which is quickly changing and innovating, and I look forward to contributing to this field in the years to come! Dominguez says.

She earned her B.S. in Physics from the Universidad de las Americas Puebla in Mexico and both her M.S. and Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona.

NEXT UP: LEON LI >>>

About the Author

Justine Murphy | Senior Editor

Justine Murphy is a multiple award-winning writer and editor with more 20 years of experience in newspaper publishing as well as public relations, marketing, and communications. For nearly 10 years, she has covered all facets of the optics and photonics industry as an editor, writer, web news anchor, and podcast host for an internationally reaching magazine publishing company. Her work has earned accolades from the New England Press Association as well as the SIIA/Jesse H. Neal Awards. She received a B.A. from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

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