Stephen G. Jurczyk is an American engineer who served as the Acting Administrator of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

. He previously worked at

Langley Research Center The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, United States of America, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. It directly borders Langley Air Force Base and the Back River on the Chesapeake Bay. LaRC has fo ...

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

Education and career

Jurczyk is a graduate of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

where he received

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degrees in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1984 and 1986. He is an associate fellow of the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

. Jurczyk began his NASA career in 1988 at Langley Research Center in the Electronic Systems Branch as a design, integration and testing engineer developing several space-based Earth remote sensing systems. From 2002 to 2004, Jurczyk was director of engineering, and from 2004 to 2006 he was director of research and technology at Langley where he led the organizations’ contributions to a broad range of research, technology and engineering disciplines contributing to all NASA mission areas. From August 2006, Jurczyk served as Langley's Deputy Center Director. In May 2014, Jurczyk was appointed as Director at NASA’s Langley Research Center. There, he headed NASA’s first field Center, which plays a critical role in NASA’s aeronautics research, exploration and science missions. After Langley, Jurczyk was the associate administrator of the Space Technology Mission Directorate, since June 2015. In this position he formulated and executed the agency’s Space Technology programs, focusing on developing and demonstrating transformative technologies for human and

robotic exploration Unmanned spacecraft or uncrewed spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board, used for robotic spaceflight. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input; they may be remote controlled, remote guided or eve ...

of the

solar system The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

in partnership with industry and academia. In May 2018, Jurczyk became NASA's associate administrator, the agency's highest-ranking

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

position. He became acting NASA administrator following

Jim Bridenstine James Frederick Bridenstine (born June 15, 1975) is an American military officer and politician who served as the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Bridenstine was the United States representative fo ...

's resignation on January 20, 2021. He retired from NASA on May 14, 2021. He was replaced by astronaut and

John F. Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field ...

director

Robert D. Cabana Robert Donald Cabana (born January 23, 1949) is the Associate Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a NASA astronaut (currently as a non-flight eligible management astronaut), and a veteran of four Space Shuttl ...

. On August 25, 2021, emails surfaced on a hacking forum allegedly showing

United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, a ...

Vice President Robbie Sabathier being critical of NASA administrators. At the time the email was sent, the acting NASA Administrator position was filled by Steve Jurczyk. Among many statements made, Sabather stated, "NASA HQ’s A-Suite leadership is currently incompetent and unpredictable". ULA has not commented on the authenticity of the emails but has stated it is "taking this alleged cyber crime seriously".

Honors and awards

Jurczyk received several awards during his NASA career, including two NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals, the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive in 2006, and the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executive in 2016—the highest honors attainable for federal government leadership.

Education and career

Honors and awards

References

Further reading