Dr. Molly Macauley
https:// www.journals.elsevier.com/space-policy/news/tribute-to-dr-molly-macauley
An economist who specialized in satellite and space program issues, Molly was an integral part of the national and international space policy community for more than 30 years. She began her professional career as a policy analyst at the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) from 1979-1983 while earning advanced degrees in economics at Johns Hopkins University. After receiving her doctorate in 1983, she joined RFF, a research organization that conducts independent research on environmental, energy, and natural resources issues, especially their economics and other social science aspects. She spent the remainder of her career there, rising up through the organization’s ranks to the position of Vice President for Research. For many of those years (1989-2008), she also was a visiting professor of economics at John Hopkins University.
Over the years, Molly served on many boards and committees in addition to the Space Policy Editorial Board. Among them were the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Board of Advisors for the College of William and Mary (her alma mater for her undergraduate degree in economics), the Board of Directors of the American Astronautical Society, and the Board of Directors and the scholarship committee of Women in Aerospace. She also was a trustee-at-large of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), and a member of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) and later of the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and served on numerous Academies study committees.