Indian-American Bhavya Lal has made made Indians proud by being named as Acting Chief of Staff of the US space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) on Monday. NASA said in a statement that Lal will be senior advisor for budget and finance at NASA.
NASA personnel news. Bhavya Lal is now NASA's Acting Chief of Staff instead of WH liaison. Phillip Thompson is now WH liaison (was coalitions advisor to the campaigns for the two new Georgia Senators and Biden). More in the attached snip. pic.twitter.com/TmooNtoeBt
— Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) February 1, 2021
“Lal brings extensive experience in engineering and space technology, serving as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) from 2005 to 2020.” Read NASA’s statement.
“Lal is an active member of the space technology and policy community, having chaired, co-chaired, or served on five high-impact National Academy of Science (NAS) committee
Lal has worked as a member of the Joe Biden Presidential Transition Agency Review Team for the agency and was in charge of overseeing the agency’s transition under the administration. Lal has an extensive experience in engineering and space technology and had been serving as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defence Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) from 2005 to 2020.
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“There, she led the 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 space-oriented organizations, including NASA, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community.” The statement added.
Lal is an active member of the space technology and policy community, having chaired, co-chaired, or served on five high-impact National Academy of Science committees. She 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 NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Program and the Technology, Innovation and Engineering Advisory Committee of the NASA Advisory Council.
Before joining STPI, Lal was president of C-STPS 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, Massachusetts.
Lal will also serve as the senior advisor for budget and finance at NASA.
(With ANI inputs)