Christa D. Peters-Lidard

Dr. Christa D. Peters-Lidard is a hydrologist and a leader in land surface modeling and data assimilation, with particular expertise in integrating remotely sensed precipitation and soil moisture observations into Earth system models. Her research has advanced understanding of land–atmosphere interactions, boundary layer processes, and the representation of water and energy fluxes in coupled modeling systems, with applications spanning weather, climate, and hydrologic prediction.

Dr. Peters-Lidard is well known for leading the development of NASA’s Land Information System (LIS), a high-performance modeling and data assimilation framework that enables the integration of satellite, airborne, and in situ observations with land models and has been widely adopted for research and operational applications. Her work has contributed to foundational advances in soil moisture data assimilation and the use of remote sensing to characterize hydrologic states and processes.

From 2023-2025, Dr. Peters-Lidard served as Director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Previously, she served as Deputy Director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate (2021–2023) and as Deputy Director for Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics within the Earth Sciences Division (2015–2021). Earlier in her career, Dr. Peters-Lidard was Chief of the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard, a Physical Scientist in the Earth Sciences Division, and an Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

She served as Chief Editor of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Hydrometeorology (2011–2018), as well as on the AMS Council and Executive Committee, and has held numerous editorial and advisory roles across leading scientific organizations. She is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of AGU, AMS, and AAAS. Her honors include the COSPAR Zeldovich Medal, the Arthur S. Flemming Award, NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, and NASA’s Software of the Year Award for the Land Information System.

She holds a B.S. in Geophysics (summa cum laude) from Virginia Tech and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and Operations Research (Water Resources) from Princeton University.