Dr. Kay is a PHaSER researcher working in the Solar Physics Laboratory of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and affiliated with Community Coordinated Modeling Center at NASA Goddard.
She has developed and implemented innovative models to improve the forecast of coronal mass ejection impacts, starting with their early propagation in the lower solar corona, extending out to their detection in the solar wind. These are described in a series of well-known papers. She also recognized the importance of validation and characterization of a model to make it operational, so that it can be used by forecasters. For this purpose, she spearheaded efforts to implement and test these new space weather model forecasting technologies. Another of Dr. Kay’s contributions is her investigations into the role of CME impacts affecting exoplanets. Just as coronal mass ejections affect planets in our own solar system, there is a growing respect for the role of space weather in determining habitability in other planetary systems.