Former NASA leader to oversee Vanderbilt space tech efforts

Vanderbilt University has named the Christopher Scolese, a former NASA acting administrator, to serve as director of the new Vanderbilt Institute for Innovations Beyond Earth.

Scolese, former director of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, also will hold a distinguished faculty appointment in the university’s electrical and computer engineering department. Founded in 1961, the National Reconnaissance Office designs, builds, launches and operates the nation’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites in support of the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community.