This summer I had the opportunity to work at NASA headquarters. NASA is a federal agency with many internal divisions, including the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), which provides scientific guidance to NASA administration. One of the most ambitious projects which the SMD is currently working on is the Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign, a joint project with the European Space Agency to bring samples from Mars to Earth.

Within MSR I worked to define a management plan for returned samples and storage facilities within an international framework. This involved collaboration with NASA's Office of International and Interagency Relations and NASA's legal team to work around international agreements and regulations as well as analyzing other multilateral international collaborations to find potential models. I also worked with the Astrobiology team to evaluate the equity of dual-anonymous peer review and search for alternatives.