Ana Maria Tárano, Ph.D.
Data Scientist,
Department of Ocean Sciences
»CV
Dr. Ana M. Tárano is a data scientist for the Aircraft Center for Earth Studies (ACES) at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Presently, she applies computational tools and machine learning algorithms for shallow-marine habitat mapping from remotely sensed multispectral imagery. As a passionate educator and designer, she has extended the NASA Planetary ReaCH engagement model with art and the design thinking framework as a 2022 NASA SCoPE Seed Grant Awardee.
Before joining ACES, Dr. Tárano provided natural language processing and human-computer interaction leadership in the development of a conversational AI chatbot for Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Tárano received her Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. Her Ph.D. research improved asteroid modeling using physics-based simulations, statistical analysis, optimization, and machine learning. This work was funded by NASA's Asteroid Threat Assessment Project (ATAP) at NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division. Her contributions to NASA's ATAP were recognized by NASA's Group Achievement Award and NASA Ames Honor Award. Her extensive aerospace engineering experience ranges from leading Stanford's CubeSat QB50 Discovery to studying space radiation effects on astronauts at NASA Space Radiation Lab.
Her leadership initiatives for gender equity, food security, and mental health received the Community Impact Award by the Stanford Alumni Association, Champion Advocate Award by the Associated Students of Stanford University, and Engineers of the Future Leadership Award by the Straubel Foundation.
