NASA Names New Director for Langley Research Center

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Jun 19, 2015, 11:56 ET

HAMPTON, Va., June 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has announced that Dr. David E. Bowles has been named director of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, succeeding Stephen G. Jurczyk who served in that capacity from April 2014.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden made the announcement in an agency-wide email to employees.

Bowles has been serving as the acting center director since March of this year when Jurczyk was temporarily assigned to NASA Headquarters as the acting Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate. Jurczyk has since been named associate administrator.

"I am honored to lead such an outstanding research facility – one where I have worked for 35 years," said Bowles. "I want to thank Steve Jurczyk for his brief but exceptional leadership of NASA Langley and look forward to continuing to work with him now that he is officially the head of Space Tech."

Bowles began his NASA career at Langley in 1980 as a research engineer in Langley's Materials Division studying the environmental effects of advanced composites for aerospace structures. He transitioned to management, first as assistant chief of the Applied Materials Branch, then assuming leadership roles in program and project management.

In 2004, he was named deputy director and later acting director of the Exploration Systems and Space Operations Technology Directorate. In 2007 Bowles officially became the director of the Exploration and Space Operations Directorate, where he was responsible for the overall management and direction of Langley's role in space flight projects and development and research.

He served in that role until 2012 when he became associate director, third in command at NASA Langley. Bowles moved to deputy director last year when Jurczyk became director.

Bowles earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in engineering mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1978, 1980 and 1990, respectively. He specialized in solid mechanics with an emphasis on advanced composite materials.

The recipient of numerous awards, Bowles received NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2005. He lives in Suffolk, Virginia, with his wife Michele. They have three children.

Joining Bowles in the Langley front office will be Clayton Turner as deputy director and Cathy Mangum as associate director. Both have been acting in those positions.

Clayton Turner started his NASA career at Langley in 1990 where he was a Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE) engineer. Since then Turner has served in various roles with progressively increasing responsibility including assistant branch head, branch head, directorate chief engineer, director of the Engineering Directorate, and center chief engineer.

Prior to joining NASA Turner was the Chief Engineer for Dynamic Recording Studio in Rochester, New York. He was responsible for the technical and artistic recording quality of a wide range of audio and video content spanning multiple styles and formats.

Turner is the recipient of two Paul F. Holloway Non-Aerospace Technology Transfer Awards, the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the NASA Silver Snoopy Award. He has a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology. Turner lives in Hampton, Virginia, with his wife, April, and youngest of two sons.

Cathy Mangum started her NASA career in 1988 as an information technology manager in the Office of Aero-Space Technology at Headquarters in Washington. She progressed to director of the Management Operations Division in the Office of Aeronautics in 1994. In 1996, Ms. Mangum joined the Office of Chief information Officer at NASA Langley. In 2003 she was named the acting chief information officer and became the Langley CIO a year later. Then in 2012 Mangum moved over to head the Center Operations Directorate.

She has a bachelor's degree in information management from James Madison University.

The recipient of numerous awards, Mangum received NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2006. She lives in Poquoson, Virginia, with her husband, Richard. They have two children.

NASA Langley Research Center was established in 1917 as this nation's first civil aeronautics research laboratory, and today has a workforce of almost 3,600 people, including civil servants and contractors. For almost a century the center's research, science and technology innovations have revolutionized aviation and spaceflight, and continue to enable NASA's significant contributions to the nation.

For more information about the NASA Langley Research Center visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley

For more information about NASA visit:
http://www.nasa.gov

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SOURCE NASA