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Education: B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985; M.S., University of Washington, 1989; work towards PhD in Applied Mathematics, 1993-1995.

Before coming to SPU, Prof. McCord worked in the Navigation section of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she worked on various projects: 1) Determining a graphical method for finding rank deficient solutions to very large-scale orbit determination problems, where an exact solution may not exist. 2) Writing a program to predict future usage by the Deep Space Network based upon existing spacecraft and various combinations of proposed spacecraft, each with specific tracking requirements and following complex trajectories. 3) Expanding the capabilities of an existing program from the usual cubic splines for curve fitting to allow for higher order spline fitting. Previously she worked in the Deep Space Network designing algorithms and software to support spacecraft tracking. The work her group did won the NASA Group Achievement Award.

While at MIT working in the MIT Planetary Astronomy Group, Prof. McCord predicted stellar occultations of Saturn’s rings. She also worked on developing an algorithm to reduce photometry data in the form of diffraction patterns from stellar occulations by planetary rings (in particular, by the Uranian rings) using Fourier analysis.

After work at JPL, she stepped away from the academic path for a time in order to homeschool her children. Now at SPU, Prof. McCord loves teaching mathematics to her students, particularly Calculus, Differential Equations and Linear Algebra. Her training and experience include application fields in quantum physics, astrophysics, sailing vessel dynamics, mathematical ecology and mathematical biology, and she loves to bring her experience to motivate the learning of mathematics. Students who ask “What good is math?” may be drawn into a fascinating journey of discovery.

She has played principle flute with several ensembles. She speaks and reads some German and French. She enjoys a range of indoor and outdoor pursuits from bridge to backpacking. She is active in the ministries of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church.

Selected publications

Singular Value Analysis of Large-Scale Orbit Determination Problems, 1991 – presented at: SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) meeting in San Diego, 1991, (ICIAM) International Congress in Industrial & Applied Mathematics meeting in Washington DC., 1991

Voyager 2 Encounter with Uranus, 1986 – presented at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, 1986