Mason Space Day Speakers

Brigadier General Nick Hague serves as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Operations at Headquarters U.S. Space Force, the Pentagon, where he oversees policy for global operations, sustainment, training, and readiness. Previously, he served as a NASA astronaut at Johnson Space Center and commanded SpaceX Crew‑9, which launched on September 28, 2024, and returned March 18, 2025, completing a 171‑day mission aboard the International Space Station. During Expedition 72, he and his crewmates conducted more than 150 experiments and over 900 hours of research. He also performed a spacewalk with astronaut Suni Williams to replace a rate gyro assembly, repair the NICER X-ray telescope, and assess procedures for future Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer maintenance. Commissioned from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Brig. Gen. Hague has more than 25 years of service across research, test, program management, and operational roles. An MIT graduate, he worked in advanced spacecraft development, served as a test engineer with operational deployments, and held key leadership and instructional positions, including at the Air Force Academy. He has logged over 15,000 flight hours in 37 aircraft and spacecraft, completed three spaceflights, spent 374 days in space, and conducted four spacewalks. View full bio. 

Dominic Benford is the Program Scientist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which launched on August 30, 2026. Roman is designed to conduct major surveys of the universe to answer fundamental questions on the nature of dark energy, the distribution of dark matter, the occurrence of planets around other stars, and even to enable the direct imaging of planetary systems. He is the Chief Technologist for Astrophysics, where he focuses on maturing the next generation of technologies that will expand our view of the cosmos. 

Anamaria Berea is an associate professor of Computational and Data Sciences. She also serves as an affiliate faculty member and super mentor for the Frontier Development Lab (FDL), affiliated with the SETI Institute. In addition, Berea is a research investigator and elected Scientist Representative for the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (BMSIS), an affiliate of the Post-Detection Hub at the University of St. Andrews. She is also a member of the International Astronautical Federation's Permanent SETI Committee and serve as Mission Head at the Interstellar Foundation. A recipient of a NASA award, she led the ASPIRE One mission to the Moon. Her current research lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence and space sciences, with a particular focus on astrobiology. Berea's work includes computer simulations of human teams and habitats in extreme environments (such as the Moon and Mars), studies on universals of communication for deep space contexts, and the development of AI applications for detecting biosignatures and technosignatures.

Steve Dam is the President and Founder of the Systems and Proposal Engineering Company (dba SPEC Innovations), based in Manassas, VA. He has been involved with structured analysis, software development, and system engineering for over 40 years. He participated in the development of C4ISR Architecture Framework (now DoDAF), the Business Enterprise Architecture (BEA), and Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) architecture. He currently is applying system-engineering techniques to various DoD and DOE projects. Dr. Dam is the author of four systems engineering-based books, including his most recent: “Real MBSE: Model-Based Systems Engineering Using LML and Innoslate.” Dr. Dam has a BS degree in Physics from George Mason University and a PhD. in Physics from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Dam is also an INCOSE certified Expert Systems Engineering Professional (ESEP). He is an AIAA Associate Fellow and member of the Systems Engineering Technical Committee and Digital Engineering Integration Committee. Dr. Dam is currently the President of the Lifecycle Modeling Organization and a longtime member of the LML Steering Committee.

Hina Kazmi has worked in the aerospace industry for nearly 30 years, spanning both public and private sectors. Starting her career as a design and launch engineer for commercial communication satellites, she transitioned into civil space, managing large scale programs and projects under NASA’s Science Mission and Mission Support Directorates. She also worked at NASA and FAA Headquarters, where she led multiple Congressionally mandated institutional and strategic policy studies. She implemented NASA-wide training programs across all nine Centers plus Jet Propulsion Lab. Kazmi achieved her PhD in Public Policy from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, for which she received the Joseph A Fischer award for best doctoral dissertation. She conducted interdisciplinary research in government outsourcing and institutional economics (grounded in research by late Dr. Oliver Williamson, a Nobel laureate from UC Berkeley). She is an adjunct and affiliate faculty member with Schar school and mentors students by creating internship opportunities through her research. She also holds two master’s degrees, MPP and MBA. She received her undergraduate in Aerospace Engineering Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ.  

As founder of the non-profit Dark Sky Friends and an advocate of DarkSky International, Eileen Kragie is committed to educating people about responsible outdoor light at night. She joined DarkSky International, became an advocate and created the new Northern Virginia chapter DarkSky NOVA. She founded Dark Sky Friends to focus on legislation to protect human and environmental health and the night environment. Eileen’s work includes securing proclamations recognizing the problem of light pollution from state and local jurisdictions and working with local government to enact, improve, and enforce lighting ordinances and legislation. Exhibiting, public outreach and hosting events for light pollution education include Wolf Trap National Park’s Bat and Firefly Festivals, the National Book Festival, presentations to local organizations, displays and writing articles. Eileen has worked in both private industry and government. She holds a BS from George Mason University in Business and an MS from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in Policy Analysis and Public Management.

Tom is a member of the Board of DarkSky International and has served as President since January 2023. His environmental activism included a decade fighting water pollution with local riverkeeper organizations on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. In 2013, seeing the Andromeda Galaxy for the first time with his naked eyes from atop Kitt Peak rekindled an interest in astronomy and a desire to eliminate light pollution.  He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Law School. Tom retired from law practice in 2019, having spent most of his career representing airlines and railroads in labor and employment matters, including extensive experience translating scientific experts for lay decision-makers. Currently residing in Northern Virginia and Tucson, Arizona, Tom and his wife Chris travel extensively in the United States seeking dark sky locations. For several years he assisted DarkSky as a volunteer on legal and public policy issues at the national level before becoming a Board member.  In Northern Virginia, he is one of the founding members of DarkSky NOVA.

Caelus Rocketry is an aerospace nonprofit consisting entirely of high school students. Their goal is to design, build, test, and launch the first high schooler-built bipropellant liquid-fueled rocket to the edge of space while creating opportunities that introduce the community to the ever-growing aerospace industry and the importance of STEM education in an increasingly technological world. Through this project, they hope to show young people that it’s possible to do something that has never been done before and that there is no age threshold to exploring science and pushing technological boundaries.

Michael Summers is professor of planetary sciences and astronomy at George Mason University.  His research has focused on the structure and evolution of planetary atmospheres, including those of the Earth, Mars, the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, Pluto and its moon Charon, and most recently the study of exoplanet atmospheres.  His current work deals primarily with the habitability of planets and the study of signatures of life (biosignatures) on other worlds.  Michael has worked with several NASA space missions to explore the Earth’s upper atmosphere and the atmospheres of other planets. He is a Co-Investigator on the New Horizons mission to Pluto that was launched in January 2006, performed a flyby of Jupiter in February 2007, reached Pluto in 2105, performed a flyby of the Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth, and is now exploring the outermost reaches of our solar system.  Michael teaches planetary science, atmospheric science, astronomy and astrobiology at George Mason University. Among his many activities he has served on the Advisory Board for the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and has been active in supporting space exploration for both education and research.  Michael is a writer and award-winning educator who teaches planetary science, atmospheric science, astronomy, and astrobiology at George Mason University. 

Samantha M. Thompson is a historian of science and technology whose work focuses on the history of astronomy and space sciences. As the Phoebe Waterman Haas Astronomy Curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, she is responsible for the museum’s collection of telescopes, instruments, and other artifacts related to the study of the universe. Thompson received a BA in Astrophysics and Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, an MSc in the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science, Medicine, and Technology from Imperial College London, and a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from Arizona State University. Her current book project, Electric Eyes: Astronomy’s (Failed) Electronic Revolution, explores the development of photoelectric imaging in astronomy, from the invention of the all-electronic television to the CCD.