Gay Jane Perez
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Gay Jane Perez | |
|---|---|
| Director General Philippine Space Agency | |
Ad Interim Director General | |
| Assumed office January 22, 2026 | |
| Personal details | |
| Alma mater | University of the Philippines Diliman (BS, MS, PhD) |
Gay Jane P. Perez is a Filipino physicist and environmental scientist whose research involves satellite observation of environmental conditions, and the applications of that data in agricultural planning.[1] She is a professor in the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology at the University of the Philippines Diliman[2] and director general of the Philippine Space Agency.[3][4][5][6]
Perez is originally from Naga, Camarines Sur, where she attended a Catholic girls' school.[7][8] She studied physics at the University of the Philippines Diliman, earning a bachelor's degree in 2003, a master's degree in 2005, and a Ph.D. in 2009.[2] She went to the US in 2010–2011 for postdoctoral research at the Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, working there on remote sensing.[1][9]
Returning to the Philippines, she became the leader of the team that produced Diwata-1, the first microsatellite constructed in the Philippines. Her team also produced two later satellites, Maya-1 and Diwata-2, launched respectively in 2016, 2018, and 2019.[1][4]
In 2022, she was elected to a four-year term as president of the Technical Commission on Education and Outreach of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the first Filipino to lead the commission.[10]
In 2025, Perez became OIC Director General at Philippine Space Agency[11] In 2026, she was appointed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. as the Agency's Director General.[12]
