ManSat Ltd has appointed Manxwoman Dr Jennifer Stone as Regulatory Affairs Manager – 15 years after she was awarded the company’s inaugural scholarship to the NASA United Space School.

Initially educated at Ashley Hill Primary School, Jennifer was an A-level student at St Ninian’s High School when she won the scholarship to spend two weeks at the USS in the summer of 2000.

It was the first time ManSat had awarded the scholarship, and CEO Chris Stott says it is clear evidence that the private sector investing in education does work.

Jennifer is the daughter of Rosemary and Dr Alan Stone of Onchan. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a Member of the Institute of Physics, she has been working and living in Japan for several years, but today (October 1st) joins ManSat’s London office, where she will work closely with Dr Don Jayasuriya, a 25-year veteran of satellite frequency engineering and regulation.

‘Jennifer was an excellent ambassador for her school, the Island and ManSat during her time as our first United Space School Scholar,’ explained Chris. ‘She was then awarded a ManSat Fellowship to study at NASA’s Lunar & Planetary Institute and later a ManSat scholarship to the International Space University. She is living proof that supporting education works.

‘While Jennifer will be based in London, her role will bring her to the Island on a regular basis. We would love to have her based in the Isle of Man, but the nature of our work and the demands of the industry mean that she will need to spend the majority of time working from our London office.’

Chris said: ‘It is real evidence of the value of our CSR programmes – we prefer the term Community Social Responsibility – which we have worked tirelessly to develop over the years. Jennifer’s appointment is proof that investing in education really can bear fruit.’

Jennifer said: ‘I am very excited to be joining ManSat. Having grown up on the Isle of Man, and having benefited enormously from the generosity of ManSat through educational scholarships during my career, it is a real thrill to join the team and I look forward to contributing to the growth and development of the company.’

Dr Don Jayasuriya explained: ‘We are very pleased that Jennifer has joined ManSat as there is a critical skills shortage in satellite globally and her appointment is the culmination of a near two-year effort by the company to secure increasingly rare talent from within the space industry.

‘This is a complex, highly-specialised full time role and someone with Jennifer’s technical skills is so hard to find. That the person who fits the bill is a Manx person returning to work for a Manx company makes us proud of our commitment to help develop the careers and skillset of young people who come through our programmes. And we will continue to enhance Jennifer’s credentials by offering additional training.’

While at Nagoya University, Jennifer’s area of expertise was astrophysical fluid dynamics and plasma physics, and she published several papers on topics including the interstellar medium, star formation, and the solar dynamo.

She was awarded her Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011, and is a graduate of the 2007 International Space University Space Studies Program (SSP’07 Beijing). Jennifer also holds Masters degrees in Astronomy and Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.Phys. (1st Class Honours) in Astrophysics from the University of St Andrews.

In 2001 she was the recipient of the ManSat Fellowship Award where she studied at NASA’s Lunar & Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas with Dr. Paul Spudis in the study of Lunar Magnetic Anomalies.

Photo - Dr Jennifer Stone, who is joining ManSat as Regulatory Affairs Manager.