David Miller, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., was selected as NASA’s new chief technologist, the agency announced March 13. 

Miller, who is on loan to NASA through a two-year intergovernmental personnel agreement with the university, succeeds Cornell University professor Mason Peck as NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s “principal technology advisor and advocate on matters concerning agency-wide technology policy and programs,” NASA wrote in a press release.

Prior to his appointment as chief technologist, Miller held various positions on NASA projects, including principal investigator for the Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer for the Osiris-Rex asteroid sample-return mission planned for launch in 2016. He was also the principal investigator for the Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites project on the international space station. More recently, Miller served as the vice chairman of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, NASA wrote in its press release.