Dr. David J. McComas, assistant vice president of the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute, has been appointed to serve on the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) and to chair the NAC Science Committee for a two-year term, effective today. He has served as a member of the Science Committee since November 2010.
The NAC advises NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on important program and policy topics recommended by its eight committees: Science; Aeronautics; Audit, Finance and Analysis; Commercial Space; Education and Public Outreach; Human Exploration and Operations; Information Technology Infrastructure; and Technology and Innovation. The Science Committee deliberates research topics led by the NASA mission directorates on Earth and space science-related programs, projects, activities and facilities.
Since joining SwRI in 2000, McComas has helped lead SwRI’s overall space science and engineering program, and currently serves as principal investigator of NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) and Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers (TWINS) missions. He is also principal investigator for space science instruments on numerous other NASA missions, including two instruments for the Solar Probe Plus mission, scheduled to launch in 2018.
McComas is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He holds six patents and is an author of more than 450 refereed scientific papers that have been cited over 17,000 times, spanning a range of research topics including coronal, solar wind, heliospheric, magnetospheric, cometary, planetary, and interstellar science, as well as numerous space flight instruments and techniques.
About SwRI:
SwRI is an independent, nonprofit, applied research and development organization based in San Antonio, Texas, with nearly 3,000 employees and an annual research volume of more than $584 million. Southwest Research Institute and SwRI are registered marks in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. For more information about Southwest Research Institute, please visit newsroom.swri.org or www.swri.org.
