Waleed Abdalati Photo Credit/University of Colorado
Soon, NASA will have its first chief science officer in five years.
Waleed Abdalati, director of the University of Colorado’s Earth Science and Observation Center, will take the NASA post, effective Jan. 3.
Abdalati, a 10-year NASA veteran will serve as a top advisor to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on a range of science issues. He’ll coordinate closely with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget.
NASA’s most recent chief science officer, James Garvin, departed the post in 2005. The Bush administration did not name a replacement.
Abdalati has focused his research on changes in the polar ice caps as orbserved by satellite missions.
He filled a pair of research and scientific management positioins within NASA between 1998 and 2008. During the period, he served as head of the Cyrospheric Sciences Branch at the Goddard Sapce Flight Center and manager of the Cryospheric Sciences Program at NASA’s Washington headquarters.