![Sarah Milkovich photo of Sarah Milkovich](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/Milkovich2_320.jpeg?itok=0lXHQyE9)
Sarah watched the sky avidly from her home in Ithaca, NY, and on vacations.
![Meteor Shower Meteor Shower](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/meteor-shower_320px.jpg?itok=RVt2Nx0F)
Family car trips included frequent stops to study natural formations, using the Roadside Guide to Geology.
![Cover of Roadside Geology Cover of Roadside Geology](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/Roadside%20Geology-317.jpg?itok=m4ig_1yn)
![Bancroft 1995 Bancroft 1995](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/Bancroft_-_1995_PEAN.jpg?itok=DNJWFlsV)
![Sarah Yearbook Page Sarah Yearbook Page](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/IMG_0257_320px.jpg?itok=kMKlJIiG)
Internships with the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission at Cornell provided hands-on experience and a front-row seat to a liftoff.
![NEAR Launch NEAR Launch](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/NEAR_launch_2_320px.jpg?itok=PFgGn82A)
![Exeter Graduation Milkovich Exeter Graduation Milkovich](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/Exeter_Graduation_Milkovich_320px.jpg?itok=CamqVI-e)
After a B.A. at Caltech and a Ph.D. in planetary geology from Brown, Sarah has been at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab ever since.
![NASA logo NASA logo](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/NASA_logo_1_320px.jpg?itok=m-CnfbSB)
![Mars Mars](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/media/images/HYLWC-Mars-NASA-3.jpg?itok=8lsJCB25)
At JPL, Sarah has worked on the Mars Phoenix landing craft, Cassini, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and two rovers: Curiosity and the current Mars 2020.
Mars Phoenix, her first big project, landed the same weekend Sarah played trombone with the JPL/Occidental orchestra in New York.
![Sarah doing an interview on CBS News](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/Screen%20Shot%202016-09-06%20at%2011.53.05%20PM.png?itok=Q3MP3bSi)
![Curiosity Rover Curiosity Rover](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/Curiosity-Rover-NASA_Mars_Rover_320px.jpg?itok=rSl-Gl2I)
The investigation scientist for high-resolution imaging, Sarah helps Curiosity set new standards for planetary images.
Sarah presents the science requirements to engineers, ensuring they build solutions that meet the research needs.
![Diagram of the Mars 2020 Rover.](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/NASA-Mars-2020-Rover-instrument-selection-PIA18405-full_320px.jpg?itok=a0ISHbF4)
Sharing this planet with her husband and son, Sarah is still looking skyward, part of a global team making progress toward human life on Mars.
![Sarah Milkovich Family Sarah Milkovich Family](https://exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/life_changing_column/public/Family_320px.jpg?itok=3fHcY4ZV)