Huy Tran

Ms. Tran as the Director of Aeronautics at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC) provides technical and management oversight of air traffic management, airspace simulation and operations, autonomous systems, computational fluid dynamics analysis, vertical flight vehicle technology, experimental fluid mechanics, and wind tunnel operations research disciplines.

She manages an over $200 million annual budget, 250 civil servants and over 300 contractor staff, along with 10 aeronautics projects. She ensures the safe operations of the world’s largest wind tunnels and Vertical Motion Simulator. She works closely with the office of the Associate Administrator and its program directors to develop strategic plan and directions for Aeronautics, including several critical initiatives such as the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD), Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Air Traffic Management (UTM), Airspace Technology Demonstration project (ATD), Urban Air Mobility (UAM), Systems Wide Safety, and University Leadership Initiative (ULI).

She was lead inventor of the Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA), the primary heatshield for the Stardust SRC, Mars Science Laboratory, Space-X Dragon capsule, Mars 2020 and future Mars Sample Return mission.