Director, Space and Aeronautics Boards
National Academies of Sciences
Dr. Colleen N. Hartman is Board Director for Space and Aeronautics, National Academies of Sciences. She has a long and distinguished career with NASA, NOAA, the White House and academia, having held a variety of leadership posts, including the acting associate administrator, deputy associate administrator, planetary division director in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and deputy associate administrator at NOAA. She has served as NASA program manager for dozens of missions, built and launched scientific balloon payloads, and worked on robotic vision. She was the longest-serving program manager on the COBE mission that helped gain two NASA-sponsored scientists the Nobel Prize in physics in 2006. She has been instrumental in developing innovative approaches to powering space probes, including in-space propulsion and nuclear power and propulsion, having developed the Jupiter Icy Moons Tour initiative in FY2000. By gaining NASA, White House and congressional approval, she spearheaded the creation of a whole new line of planetary missions called New Frontiers, a name she selected in honor of John F. Kennedy. Her awards include two Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Senior Executive and the NASA Outstanding Performance Award. She entered government service more than 30 years ago as a Presidential Management Intern under President Ronald Regan. Her PhD is in physics and she has two master’s degrees and additional experimental work in biology at Yale University.