NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced Wednesday the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) will convene its next meeting on August 9-10. Nelson also appointed new members to the NAC, who will provide leadership counsel and advice on agency programs and priorities.
“NASA remains a global leader in exploration as a result of having a world-class workforce and the NASA Advisory Council is no different,” said Nelson. “I am incredibly proud of the accomplishments and progress we’ve made to date, and these new additions to the NAC will bring new ideas and solutions to complex problems we face. We are in the midst of another banner year at the agency, and I look forward to hearing from and working with an exceptional NAC.”
The new council members are:
- Dr. John-Paul Clarke (Chair, NAC Aeronautics Committee) – Clarke is a professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Ernest Cockrell Jr. memorial chair in engineering. He is also a former researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
- Hon. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Member at Large) – Hutchison most recently served as the U.S. permanent representative to NATO and served in the U.S. Senate prior to that. While in the Senate, she served as chair of Commerce Science and Space Subcommittee, supporting funding for the NASA investment in research and education in STEM. In 2005 she sponsored and passed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act.
- Dr. Ellen Williams (Chair, NAC Science Committee) – Williams is the director of the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center and a distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland, where she works at the interface of energy technology and policy in the context of mitigating climate change. She is also the former director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E).
- Ms. Jacklyn Wynn (Member at Large) – Wynn is vice president of strategic programs for the federal health sector at General Dynamics Information Technology, where she oversees multi-year, technology-enabled strategic engagements that provide high-quality health care enterprise solutions and resources across the federal health agencies.
Retired Gen. Lester Lyles will continue to chair the NAC and its 60 members appointed across the council and five committees supporting aeronautics, human spaceflight, science, and STEM, as well as technology, innovation, and engineering.
The NAC typically meets three times per year and the second virtual meeting of 2022 is slated for August 9-10, 2022. This year, in addition to its reviews of NASA’s mission areas, the NAC will also align its work to focus on the following agency priorities:
- Climate Change
- Commercial and Industry Partnerships
- Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Accessibility
- International Collaboration
- Program Management and Acquisition
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