Meet the team from the Upper Darby High School

Upper Darby High School, located just outside of Philadelphia, is one of the largest schools in Pennsylvania, with a diverse student population of over 3800 students, and over 70 languages spoken.   There is a program for every student at UDHS, with traditional academic courses, a very wide variety of elective offerings, award-winning music and arts programs, and over 30 clubs and activities.

Meet the Upper Darby team:
Omar Mukhtar, Junior, age 16, interested in studying Petroleum Engineering.
Sharif Hossain, Junior, age 16, interested in majoring in Astrophysics.
Mohammad Hossain, Junior, age 17, interested in studying Philosophy and Science.
Emily Kaplan, Senior, age 17, interested in Astronomy, and Astrophysics, as well as Music and Theoretical Physics.
Leslie Munyao, Senior, age 17, interested in Mechanical Engineering, especially Aerospace Engineering
Andrew Hageman, Senior, age 18, interested in Criminology, Physics and Space.
Mark Zeits, Senior, age 17, interested in Product Design, Business, Engineering and Physics.
Kalen Fisher, Senior, age 17, interested in Meteorology.
Anas El-Sayed, Senior, age 17, interested in Engineering.

UDHS Faculty Advisors:
Mr. Josh Taffel
Mrs. Roseann Burns

Meet the Upper Darby High School Mentor, Dr. Amanda Nahm

I was interested in planetary science pretty much as long as I can remember. I became interested in geology after watching a show about underwater volcanoes. I had also been interested in astronomy, which I think I got from my dad. When I went to a science camp at Purdue University for girls after middle school, I learned that there was a way to combine my interests in to one: planetary geology. In 1997, when Pathfinder landed on Mars and they showed the first images on the news, I was enthralled. As far as I knew, that was the first time we had ever seen the surface of another planet. That was it; I was hooked.

I went to school at the University of Colorado, Boulder and made my own planetary geology degree. I got my bachelor’s in Geology and a minor in Astronomy. I was lucky enough to get to know Dr. Bob Pappalardo (now at JPL, and with whom I now also work) and also to do a NASA internship at Brown University with Dr. Jim Head. I went to the University of Nevada, Reno for my Ph.D. to work with Dr. Rich Schultz (now at ConocoPhilips) on the geologic history of Mars using faults and other tectonic structures. I then spent a year and a half at the Lunar and Planetary Institute where I studied the Moon, specifically faults and the large impact basin Orientale. I am now at the University of Texas at El Paso where I get to continue my lunar work along with studying the evolution of the icy shells of Europa and Enceladus and where I also get a chance to work with students, which is my favorite part of the job!