NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has named Alexander MacDonald as NASA’s Chief Economist.
In this new role, MacDonald will have responsibility for guiding NASA’s economic planning and assessment efforts across the agency, including integrating economic analyses related to partnering, mission architecture design, budget planning, program implementation and review, and procurement.
In particular, he will play a key role in the ongoing agency-level strategic integration efforts, as well as continue to report to Associate Administrator for Strategic Engagement and Assessments Tom Cremins, to ensure that our agency missions and architectures are resilient and robust.
MacDonald has been a pioneer in the field of space exploration economics for more than a decade working both at NASA and in academia. His experience has included serving as the Senior Economic Advisor in the Office of Administrator and as the program executive for NASA’s Emerging Space Office in the Office of the Chief Technologist and at NASA’s Ames Research Center.
MacDonald received his undergraduate degree in economics from Queen’s University in Canada and his master’s degree in economics from the University of British Columbia. He received his doctorate from the University of Oxford, where he was a Clarendon Scholar.
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