Miguel Roman


Miguel Román, is the founding director of The Earth from Space Institute - an independent program of the Universities Space Research Association dedicated to supporting the development of long-term strategies for reducing disaster risk and promoting community resilience, using the unique vantage point of Space. President Barack Obama named him a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers award, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.
Román currently serves as NASA's Terra, Aqua, and Suomi NPP's Land discipline leader, helping manage a worldwide team of investigators in charge of generating long-term data records from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite ; two of the largest and most comprehensive instrument suites ever launched to systematically monitor our planet's vital signs.
Before joining USRA, Román served for ten years as a civil servant scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where he pioneered the iconic Black Marble - a suite of satellite products that provide daily global views of Earth at night, with an emphasis on tracking the signatures of recovery across vulnerable communities affected by major disasters. Román, who continues to serve in the role of Black Marble team leader, has also led international activities under the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites and the Group on Earth Observations.

Early years

Miguel Román was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After he graduated from CROEM high school, he attended the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus and, in 2004, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Román continued his academic studies at Cornell University, earning a master's degree in Systems Engineering. In 2009, he received a doctorate in Remote Sensing from Boston University. While studying at BU, Román did his dissertation research at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, as part of NASA's Harriett G. Jenkins Fellowship and the Graduate Student Research Programs.

Career at NASA

In 2009, Román became a research physical scientist in the Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Román led the Land Product Validation activities surrounding the EOS Terra/Aqua MODIS and Suomi-NPP VIIRS instruments, as well as field-based and airborne experiments using small-UAS platforms. He is also the principal NASA scientist for the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day/Night Band on Suomi-NPP. At the international level, Román served as the chair of the Land Product Validation Subgroup on the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Working Group on Calibration and Validation.
Román has been recognized for his speaking engagements at conferences and media interviews. His recent research work using the VIIRS instrument on Suomi-NPP has received international attention in more than 100 outlets; including CNN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR. He has authored or co-authored over 125 articles in major remote sensing journals and is credited with over 2300 citations over the last 10 years. Román is the recipient of NASA's Early Career Achievement Medal, the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Graduate of the Last Decade Award, was an honoree for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals "Call to Service" award; and, in 2017, became a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers award, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

Personal Life

Román is married to noted astrophysicist and marathon runner Julia Román-Duval; they have three children.