NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland will see new leadership as Dr. James Kenyon transitions to head the new Research and Technology Mission Directorate.
CLEVELAND — NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is getting new leadership as part of an agencywide restructuring that consolidates key research and technology programs.
Dr. James Kenyon, who has served as Glenn’s director since 2022, will become associate administrator of NASA’s newly created Research and Technology Mission Directorate. The new directorate combines the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and Space Technology Mission Directorate into a single organization focused on aeronautics, space technology, nuclear power and propulsion.
Kenyon has long emphasized Glenn’s central role in NASA’s mission.
“No spacecraft and no aircraft has ever flown without power, propulsion and communications, and no spacecraft and no aircraft will ever fly without power, propulsion and communications,” Kenyon told 3News in a 2023 interview. “So we are very relevant to the agency’s overall mission.”
Dawn Schaible, Glenn’s deputy director, will succeed Kenyon as center director. NASA has not announced when the leadership changes will take effect.
The restructuring follows the National Space Policy and is intended to focus NASA’s workforce and resources on priorities that include accelerating the Artemis program, establishing a long-term presence on the moon, developing nuclear space reactor technology, expanding the orbital economy and advancing science and exploration missions.
“This initiative reflects NASA’s extreme focus on executing the mission in direct support of the National Space Policy,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a news release. “We are focusing resources on the most pressing objectives only NASA is capable of undertaking and liberating the workforce from unnecessary bureaucracy and obstacles that impede progress.”