Dr. Padma Yanamandra-Fisher was a Senior Research Scientist at SSI from 2011 to 2026. She studied the nature of light scattering in various media pertaining to the solar system. Her research focused on seasonal and temporal changes on Jupiter and Saturn; understanding the thermophysical properties of solar system ices, including observations and models of comets; and polarimetric exploration of the solar system, including the Sun. Her observational programs involved acquisition of data from both global professional facilities such as NASA/IRTF, NOAJ/Subaru, ESO/VLT; and amateur individuals and robotic networks such as Slooh.com, iTelescope.Net. Another dimension of Padma's research was the inclusion of amateur astronomers in her Pro-Am Collaborative Astronomy (PACA) Project, identifying Pro-Am observing campaigns ranging from comets to planets and polarization. Examples included NASA's Comet ISON and SidingSpring campaigns; ESA's Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (CG); and development of a polarimetric network for polarization mapping of the outer planets. Converting these campaigns into Citizen Science projects led to the inclusion of a wider set of researchers and citizen scientists - the recent example being the measurement of the inner solar corona polarization using the Citizen CATE framework during the Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) on 21 August 2017. Additional education/outreach efforts included informal education, mentoring of students, organizing outreach sessions at scientific meetings and reviewer of NASA education products.

Padma received her Ph.D. from University of Denver, with her thesis addressing particle size distribution in Saturn's and Uranus' rings, using Voyager 2 data. She did her Post-Doc at JPL during the Voyager 2 - Neptune encounter and joined the Earth and Planetary Atmospheres group at JPL as a Research Scientist. Her extra-curricular activities involved travel (a favorite destination being Hawaii); gardening; wine-making and enjoying family and friends.

Padma was a lively and enthusiastic member of the SSI research team, and her presence will be sorely missed.