Masha Kuznetsova graduated from Moscow State University in 1981. She was then employed as a staff scientist at Space Research Institute (IKI) where she obtained a Ph.D. in 1987. In 1993 she came to the Electrodynamics Branch of the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics at NASA/GSFC as a NRC Resident Research Associate. In December 1995 she was employed as a Principle Scientist at Hughes STX (now Raytheon ITSS) in Lanham, MD. She is currently involved in activities of Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at Code 696 NASA/GSFC. Her research interests include analytical theory and numerical modeling of space plasma processes involving collisionless magnetic reconnection and current-driven instabilities, and MHD modeling of magnetospheric dynamics.