Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, February 23, 2009 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Photo: NASA Ames/Tom Trower
Pete Worden
"The Small Satellite Program at NASA Ames"
SPEAKER -- Dr. Simon P. “Pete” Worden (Brigadier General, USAF, retired) is the Director of the NASA Ames Research Center. He has a bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Arizona, Tucson.
On graduation, Worden entered the US Air Force, where he held a number of positions concerned with space and spacecraft. He served as Special Assistant to the director of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. He commanded the 50th Space Wing, which is responsible for 60 satellites. He served twice in the Executive Office of the President. As the staff officer for initiatives in the George Bush administration's National Space Council, Dr. Worden spearheaded efforts to revitalize U.S. civil space exploration and earth monitoring programs. He was a consultant to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
His final Air Force position was as Director of Development and Transformation, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command, Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA. In this position he was responsible for developing new directions for Air Force Space Command programs and was instrumental in initiating a major Responsive Space Program designed to produce space systems and launchers capable of tailored military effects on timescales of hours.
In 2004, Dr. Worden retired from the Air Force. For the 2004 Congressional session, he worked as a Congressional Fellow with the Office of Senator Sam Brownback, where he served as advisor on NASA and space issues.
Dr. Worden then moved to the University of Arizona as Research Professor of Astronomy, Optical Sciences and Planetary Sciences where his primary research direction was the development of large space optics for national security and scientific purposes and near-earth asteroids. In 2006 he became director of NASA Ames Research Center.
Dr. Worden is the winner of the 2009 Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer award for Laboratory Director of the Year. He has also received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, among other honors. Dr. Worden has written or co-written more than 150 scientific technical papers in astrophysics, space sciences and strategic studies.
Colloquium Committee Sponsor: Brent Warner
Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov