Dr. Ryan Watkins
Program Scientist - Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office
NASA, Science Mission Directorate
Dr. Ryan Watkins is a Program Scientist in the Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office (ESSIO) within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. She serves as a program scientist for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, where she is responsible for managing the overall mission success of NASA payloads flown to the lunar surface on commercial landers. She also leads the Artemis Deployed Instruments program and is currently overseeing a Science Definition Team that is assessing implementation options for a lunar sample return mission. She brings a passion for lunar science and exploration to her role at NASA Headquarters, where she has the joy of enabling other scientists to carry out high-priority scientific investigations.
Prior to coming to NASA, Dr. Watkins was an independent research scientist specializing in integrating remote sensing data sets to characterize the physical and compositional properties of airless bodies, with particular emphasis on the lunar surface. She specializes in using photometric methods to understand physical and compositional properties of the lunar surface, and in integrating planetary data sets to assess landing site safety hazards for future missions.
Dr. Watkins previously served on the Organizing Committee for the Next Generation Lunar Scientists and Engineers (NextGen) group, on the Executive Committee for the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) and served as a consultant on Blue Origin’s Science Advisory Board. She received the Susan Mahan Niebur Early Career Achievement Award in 2020 for her significant contributions to science and for her service to the planetary science community.
Dr. Watkins is a graduate of Florida Institute of Technology, where she received Bachelor of Science degrees in both Physics and Space Science, and of Washington University in St. Louis, where she received a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences. Eclipsing her love of the Moon is her love for her husband and 3 children, who are some of her biggest supporters. When not thinking about the Moon, Dr. Watkins enjoys hiking, running, cooking, and dreaming of walking on the Moon one day herself.
Related Sessions
Space Science Track
Monday, April 7, 2025
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Track: Track Program