Research Interests
- Predictive Models
- Vision-Based Tracking
- Remote Sensing
- Machine Learning
- Deep Learning
- Physics-Based Modeling
About
Emily is a Data Scientist in the Science Data Modeling and Computing Group, and the Astronomy and Physics Technology Demonstrations Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. She works on projects involving machine learning, computer vision, and physics-based modeling.
Prior to joining JPL, Emily worked in the defense industry, developing physics-based models and deep learning algorithms, as well as at TrueCar, where she was a Statistician. Emily has a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University, where she developed methods to model quantum systems. She has bachelor’s degrees in Chemical Engineering and Physics from UCLA.
Education
2008, Ph.D. in Physics, Harvard University
2004, A.M. in Physics, Harvard University
2001, B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
2001, B.S. in Physics, University of California, Los Angeles
Work Experience
Sept 2016 - present, Data Scientist III, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Oct 2015 - Aug 2016, Senior Scientist, Electromagnetic Systems Inc., El Segundo, CA
Jan 2014 - Sept 2015, Statistician, TrueCar Inc., Santa Monica, CA
Jan 2010 - Oct 2013, Staff Scientist, Areté Associates, Northridge, CA
Jan 2008 - Dec 2008, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas, Austin
Work at JPL
Awards
2022, Snapdragon Applications Team Award, JPL Office of Strategic Integration
2021, IAAI-21 Deployed Application Award, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
2019, Machine Learning Team Award, JPL Astronomy and Physics Directorate
Papers
- Emily Dunkel, Jason Swope, Zaid Towfic, Steve Chien, Damon Russell, Joseph Sauvageau, Douglas Sheldon, Juan Romero-Cañas, Jose Luis Espinosa-Aranda, Léonie Buckley, Elena Hervas-Martin, Mark Fernandez, and Carrie Knox. Benchmarking Deep Learning Inference of Remote Sensing Imagery on the Qualcomm Snapdragon and Intel Movidius Myriad X Processors Onboard the International Space Station. IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 2022. (Link to PDF)
- Jason Swope, Faiz Mirza, Emily Dunkel, Zaid Towfic, Damon Russell, Joseph Sauvageau, Douglas Sheldon, Steve Chien, Mark Fernandez and Carrie Knox. Benchmarking Remote Sensing Image Processing and Analysis on the Snapdragon Processor Onboard the International Space Station. IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 2022. (Link to PDF)
- Emily Dunkel, Jason Swope, Alberto Candela, Lauren West, Steve Chien, Léonie Buckley, Juan Romero-Cañas, Jose Luis Espinosa-Aranda, Elena Hervas-Martin, Zaid Towfic, Damon Russell, Joseph Sauvageau, Douglas Sheldon, Mark Fernandez, and Carrie Knox. Testing Mars Rover, Spectral Unmixing, and Ship Detection Neural Networks, and Memory Checkers on Embedded Systems Onboard the ISS. 16th Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation, June 2022. (Link to PDF)
- Jason Swope, Faiz Mirza, Emily Dunkel, Alberto Candela, Zaid Towfic, Steve Chien, Damon Russell, Joseph Sauvageau, Douglas Sheldon, Mark Fernandez, and Carrie Knox. Benchmarking Remote Sensing Image Processing and Mission Planning Applications on the Snapdragon Processor Onboard the International Space Station. 16th Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation, June 2022. (Link to PDF)
- Zaid Towfic, Dennis Ogbe, Joseph Sauvageau, Douglas Sheldon, Andre Jongeling, Steve Chien, Faiz Mirza, Emily Dunkel, Jason Swope, Vlad Cretu, and Mehmet Ogut. Benchmarking and Testing of Qualcomm Snapdragon System-on-Chip for JPL Space Applications and Missions. IEEE Aerospace Conference, March 2022. (Link to Publisher's Site)
- Seán Meenehan, Emily Dunkel, and Michael Cheng. Automatic Aircraft Avoidance for Laser Uplink Safety. SPIE Photonics West, 2022. (Link to Publisher's Site)
- Kiri Wagstaff, Steven Lu, Emily Dunkel, Kevin Grimes, Brandon Zhao, Jesse Cai, Shoshanna B. Cole, Gary Doran, Raymond Francis, Jake Lee, and Lukas Mandrake. Mars Image Content Classification: Three Years of NASA Deployment and Recent Advances. Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 2021. (Link to PDF)
Presentations
- Emily Dunkel, Steven Lu, Kevin Grimes, James McAuley, and Kiri L. Wagstaff. LROCNet: Detecting Impact Ejecta and Older Craters on the Lunar Surface. American Geophysical Union Fall 2022 Meeting, December 2022. (Link to PDF)
- Steven Lu, Kiri L. Wagstaff, Emily Dunkel, Bhavan Vasu, Kevin Grimes, Michael McAuley, Content-Based Search of Large Image Archives at the PDS Imaging Node. American Geophysical Union Fall 2022 Meeting, December 2022. (Link to PDF)
- Jason Swope, Emily Dunkel, Alberto Candela, and Steve Chien. Benchmarking Flight Software Applications on the Qualcomm Snapdragon and Intel Movidius Processor on the ISS - Update. JPL AI All Lab Seminar, October 2022.
- Emily Dunkel, Michael Cheng, and Ivan Lopez. DualNet for Vision-Based Tracking. CalTech JPL and MIT Lincoln Laboratory Directors' Meeting, July 2022.
- Léonie Buckley, Emily Dunkel, Juan Romero-Cañas, Jose Luis Espinosa-Aranda, Elena Hervas-Martin, Jason Swope, Zaid Towfic, Steve Chien, Damon Russell, Joseph Sauvageau, Douglas Sheldon, Mark Fernandez, and Carrie Knox. Benchmarking Deep Learning on the Myriad X Processor Onboard the International Space Station. JHUAPL Flight Software Workshop, February 2022. (Link to Video)
- Jason Swope, Emily Dunkel, and Steve Chien. Benchmarking Flight Software Applications on the Qualcomm Snapdragon and Intel Movidius Processors on the International Space Station. JPL AI All Lab Seminar, November 2021.
- Emily Dunkel, Jose Luis Espinosa-Aranda, Juan Romero-Cañas, Léonie Buckley, Zaid Towfic, Faiz Mirza, Jason Swope, Damon Russell, Joseph Sauvageau, Douglas Sheldon, Steve Chien, Mark Fernandez, Carrie Knox, Kiri Wagstaff, Steven Lu, Michael Denbina, Deegan Atha, Michael Swan, and Hiro Ono. Benchmarking Machine Learning on the Myriad X Processor Onboard the ISS. International Space Station Research and Development Conference, August 2021. (Link to PPT)
- Emily Dunkel, Lukas Mandrake, Shawn Anderson, Ravi Kiran, Zaki Hasnain, Zhangfan Xing, Peyman Tavallali, Nicholas Terrile, Rongsen Li, and Dominique Vaca. Holographic Examination for Life-like Motility, Ocean Worlds Life Surveyor. JPL Section 398 Seminar, July 2019.
- Emily Dunkel, Michael Cheng, Jake Wortman, Ivan Lopez, and Walker Dula. Deep Reinforcement Learning for Vision-Based Tracking. JPL Director's Review and Discussion (DRD) Presentation, June 2019.
- Emily Dunkel and Michael Cheng. Deep Reinforcement Learning for Vision-Based Tracking. GEOINT Electro-Optical Technical Symposium, February 2019.
In the News
- NASA Earth Science Article, 2022: New AI algorithms streamline data processing for space-based instruments