Aerospace Engineering professor, Bobby Braun, who served as the first NASA chief technologist in a decade, will leave the agency in October to return to the faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Braun's service at NASA was possible through a two-year intergovernmental personnel agreement with Georgia Tech.

During his tenure at NASA, Braun served as the agency's principal advisor and advocate on matters concerning agency-wide technology policy and programs. Braun also was responsible for the formulation and initial implementation of NASA's Space Technology Program, which develops crosscutting technologies and advanced capabilities to enable NASA's future space missions. 

"When I asked Bobby to join the NASA leadership team and establish the new Office of the Chief Technologist, I had to pull him away from his family and his work as a professor and researcher at Georgia Tech," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "Bobby has rebuilt our basic and applied research capabilities, created technology programs to enable our agency's future success, and clearly articulated the importance of NASA's technology investments as an integral component of our nation's space policy. He's done an incredible job, and we're indebted to him for his exemplary public service."

Braun has more than 20 years experience performing design and analysis of planetary exploration systems as a member of the technical staff at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research has focused on systems' aspects of planetary exploration, where he contributed to the design, development, test and operation of several robotic space flight systems.

Braun was a member of the Mars Pathfinder design and landing operations team from 1992 to 1997 and has been part of development teams for the Mars Microprobe, Mars Sample Return and Mars Surveyor 2001 projects. He also has provided independent assessment and served on NASA review boards for the Mars Polar Lander, Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rover, Phoenix Mars Scout, Genesis, and Mars Science Laboratory flight projects.

Braun joined Georgia Tech in Oct 2003. At Georgia Tech, he led a research and educational programs in aerospace engineering focused on the design of advanced flight systems and technologies for planetary exploration. Recent research projects included the development of entry, descent and landing concepts and technologies for human Mars exploration. He worked on robotic platforms capable of powered flight in planetary atmospheres, entry system architectural concepts for human return from the moon, design and analyses of inflatable aerodynamic decelerators, pinpoint landing technology assessment for planetary exploration systems and engineering strategies for asteroid deflection. Braun also was responsible for undergraduate and graduate level instruction in the areas of space systems design, astrodynamics and planetary entry.