NASA Langley Research Center Director Roy D. Bridges Jr. today named Cynthia C. "Cindy" Lee Associate Director for Program Integration. In this capacity, she has oversight and responsibility for all program management functions at the Center. Lee will work closely with the Center Director and senior management team in the overall planning, strategy, operations and management of the Center.
"Cindy’s success as a team builder and leader across a wide variety of programs and organizations within NASA and the Department of Defense makes her uniquely qualified to lead the development and integration of NASA programs at Langley in the second century of flight," said Bridges.
Lee replaces Ruth Martin who is leaving the Agency effective December 8 to serve as Director of Programs for the National Federation of the Blind and its planned Research and Technology Institute. The federation is a Baltimore-based organization with 50,000 members nationwide. She starts the new job January 19.
Lee was formerly the Deputy Director of the Aerospace Systems Concepts and Analysis Competency (ASCAC). ASCAC provides aeronautics and space systems analyses that better enable Agency leaders to make integrated investment decisions, individual program technology benefits and trades assessments, and revolutionary aerospace systems concepts for the future. The organization of 125 civil servants and 80 contractors and graduate students assesses all areas of interest to NASA, including atmospheric flight, low-
Earth orbit, geo-stationary Earth orbit and space exploration.
"I’ve had the opportunity to work in both research and technology and programs," Lee said, "and I am looking forward to strengthening our collaboration across the Center and the Agency to better serve NASA and the nation."
From 1994 to 1996 and 1998 to 1999, she served as Deputy Director of the Advanced Subsonic Technology (AST) Program and Acting Director for the closing year. AST was the Agency’s focused subsonic technology program with a scope of $1.5B and 11 technology projects that emphasized improvements in the environment, airspace capacity, and safety of the airframe, propulsion, and air transportation systems. The program spanned Langley, Ames, and Glenn Research Centers, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Goddard Space
Flight Center. Prior to AST, she led the Agency’s Base R&T Civil Transportation Program to develop revolutionary technology for civil airframe systems.
As Head of the Flight Research Branch from 1991 to 1994, she led research programs in aerodynamics, flight dynamics, and aviation safety for flight evaluations of advanced systems concepts that enhanced the efficiency and safety of military and commercial aircraft. She is recognized as an international expert in flight research test techniques. Early in her career, she worked at Patuxent River Naval Air Test Center for DoD as a project engineer for the initial flight tests of the AV-8B Harrier.
Lee has also served in developmental assignments at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas; NASA Headquarters Office of Space Flight, Washington, D.C.; and Boeing Space and Communications, Seal Beach, Calif.
Lee earned a bachelor of science degree in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree in Flight Sciences and Public Administration from George Washington and Syracuse Universities, respectively. She received NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1999 and the Exceptional Service Medal in 1997.
Lee was born in Hampton, Va., and lives in Williamsburg with her husband, Wayne, and two golden retrievers. They have one adult daughter, Melissa.
