Indian-American Bhavya Lal appointed NASA’s Acting Chief of Staff

IndianAmerican Bhavya Lal was appointed by NASA as the Acting Chief of Staff of the US space agency on MondayLal served as a member of the Biden Presidential Transition Agency Review Team for the agency and oversaw the agencyrsquos transition under the administration of President Joe BidenIn a statement NASA said Lal brings extensive experience in engineering and space technology serving as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defence Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute STPI from 2005 to 2020There she led analysis of space technology strategy and policy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and National Space Council as well as federal spaceoriented organisations including NASA the Department of Defence and the intelligence communityLal is an active member of the space technology and policy community having chaired cochaired or served on five highimpact National Academy of Science committeesShe served two consecutive terms on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Federal Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing and was an External Council member of NASArsquos Innovative Advanced Concepts Program and the Technology Innovation and Engineering Advisory Committee of the NASA Advisory CouncilBefore joining STPI Lal was president of CSTPS LLC a science and technology policy research and consulting firm Prior to that she was the director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Studies at Abt Associates a global policy research consultancy based in Cambridge MassachusettsShe cofounded and is cochair of the policy track of the American Nuclear Societyrsquos annual conference on Nuclear and Emerging Technologies in Space NETS and coorganises a seminar series on space history and policy with the Smithsonian National Air and Space MuseumFor her many contributions to the space sector she was nominated and selected to be a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics the statement saidLal earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in nuclear engineering as well as a Master of Science degree in technology and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a doctorate in public policy and public administration from George Washington UniversityShe is a member of both the nuclear engineering and public policy honor societiesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever