NASA Knowledge Community
The NASA knowledge community is a vibrant group of practitioners who actively facilitate knowledge capture, storage, reuse and sharing across the agency. NASA’s knowledge community includes mission directorate, center and organizational Chief Knowledge Officers (CKO), Points of Contact (POC) and Knowledge Services Leads. The community meets face-to-face biannually in accordance with NASA Policy Directive 7120.6 and at the recommendation of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) in order to share leading practices; deepen understanding of lessons learned and how they impact mission success and failure; learn from industry partners; and work on agencywide problem-solving.
Office of the Chief Knowledge Officer (OCKO) |
| In response to the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) recommendation for NASA to establish a single focal point within the agency to develop the policy and requirements necessary to integrate knowledge capture across programs, projects and centers, OCKO leads the effort to develop more consistent knowledge capability across the agency.
Specialty: Lessons learned, knowledge sharing OCKO Knowledge Services Team |
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) |
| Ian Boyd serves as the CKO for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), guiding efforts of the ARMD Knowledge Management Steering Group to ensure NASA Aeronautics employs exceptional knowledge, state of the art learning, and advanced technological agility.
Specialty: Strategic planning, lessons learned, knowledge sharing ARMD Knowledge Services Team |
Ames Research Center (ARC) |
| Tara Samuels is the CKO at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and also serves as Branch Chief (Acting) of the Flight Systems Implementation Branch in the Bioscience Division in the Science Directorate. She was previously a Lead Systems Engineer for several bioscience payload missions and holds an MS in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA. Ms. Samuels believes it is critical that organizations formally document their processes and best practices, as these guidance documents provide a framework for operationalizing lessons learned.
Specialty: Lessons learned, corporate knowledge management ARC Knowledge Services Team |
Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) |
| Mark Davis serves as the Branch Chief of Research Engineering Operations for NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and is a Research Aerodynamic Engineer specializing in flight test techniques, airdata systems development, and hypersonic research. While performing those duties through the years, Mr. Davis has learned the value of passing on good practices and how that act can save programs time and valuable resources. Being able to interact with others that have worked on similar problems can be invaluable in helping to keep NASA growing its technical strengths.
Specialty: Lessons learned, knowledge sharing. AFRC Knowledge Services Team |
Glenn Research Center (GRC) |
| Specialty: Mentorship, strategic planning and implementation
GRC Knowledge Services Team |
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) |
| Dr. Moses Adoko is the CKO of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Prior to his appointment as the Goddard CKO, he served as Deputy Chief Knowledge Officer for the Agency. Dr. Adoko leads and directs programs designed to cultivate and sustain a learning culture that supports mission success. He has implemented strategic processes and tools for lessons learned and critical knowledge identification, sharing, and application. Dr. Adoko provides leadership, coordination and support to center organizations to identify lessons and critical knowledge that can be used to support mission execution.
Specialty: Case studies, pause and learn, reflective learning programs, learning of mission success drivers and Knowledge Sharing Workshops (KSWs) GSFC Knowledge Services Team |
Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) |
| Zudayyah Taylor-Dunn is the CKO for NASA’s Human Exploration Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate. HEO provides the Agency with leadership and management of NASA space operations related to human exploration in and beyond low-Earth orbit. She fosters collaborative work environments by developing innovative ways to connect people and transfer knowledge within the human exploration and operations programs.
HEOMD Knowledge Services Team |
Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) |
| Jeff Northey is the CKO for NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Program and leads the IV&V Strategic Communications Office. Northey has helped establish a knowledge strategy that includes a simple model for people to actively acquire, share and apply knowledge.
Specialty: Learning organization, knowledge strategy IV&V Knowledge Services Team |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) |
| Michelle Drabik is the CKO at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Drabik is excited about the challenge of expanding JPL’s strong knowledge management culture and infrastructure to take it into the next generation, both leveraging what is known and anticipating and building toward what we will need to know in the future.
JPL Knowledge Services Team |
Johnson Space Center (JSC) |
| Jim Rostohar is the CKO at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). Rostohar says having the right analytical search tools can be a game-changer in terms of technical search capabilities.
Specialty: Data science, search/tag/taxonomy JSC Knowledge Services Team |
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) |
| Michael Bell is the CKO at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Bell leads the cross-agency Lessons Learned Information System and is instrumental to the work of the lessons learned steering committees. He says sharing knowledge helps spur innovation and new thoughts on solving problems.
Specialty: Lessons learned, innovation KSC Knowledge Services Team |
Langley Research Center (LaRC) |
| Kevin Rivers is the CKO at NASA’s Langley Research Center where the center mission organizations work in cooperation with IT on projects and initiatives that help with knowledge capture, access, sharing and archiving. The center has been successful with big data mining and deep analytics – mining knowledge for insights, trends and predictions.
Specialty: Big data mining and deep analytics LaRC Knowledge Services Team |
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) |
| Larry Leopard, is Marshall Space Flight Center’s Associate Center Director, Technical and Chief Knowledge Officer.
Specialty: Corporate knowledge management Specialty: Innovative knowledge initiatives and strategy MSFC Knowledge Services Team |
NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) |
| Dan Yuchnovicz is the CKO for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC). Yuchnovicz says the biggest challenge facing knowledge managers is getting the right information to the right people at the right time in the development cycle.
Specialty: Lessons learned, technical assessment NESC Knowledge Services Team |
NASA Engineering Network (NEN) |
| Daniel Hoffpauir is the lead Community Facilitator for the NASA Engineering Network (NEN). Daniel believes it’s critical that NASA’s corporate knowledge be accessible to ensure project and mission success.
Specialty: Communities of Practice, Communications, Collaboration NEN Knowledge Services Team |
Office of Communications, NASA History Division (NHD) |
| Stephen Garber is a historian in the NASA History Division. He leads the Agency History Program’s signature publications series. He also has written or coauthored numerous articles and an award-winning book on a wide variety of aerospace history topics. Steve is a big believer in the value of applied history for the policymaker.
Specialty: applied history, science and technology studies (social science approaches to natural science and engineering) NASA History Division Team |
NASA Safety Center (NSC) |
| NSC Knowledge Services Team Sallie Keith | sallie.a.keith@nasa.gov | 216-443-9715 Rob Usher | robert.m.usher@nasa.gov | 216 849-5976 |
Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) |
| OCHCO Knowledge Services Team Donna Queen | donna.queen@nasa.gov | 202-358-3740 |
Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) |
| Mark Weyland is the Knowledge Services Lead for NASA’s Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO). Weyland says it takes effort to keep up with new developments and new knowledge, but the payoff is worth much more than the investment.
Specialty: Integration, risk management OCHMO Knowledge Services Team |
Science Mission Directorate (SMD) |
| Dr. Michael New is the Deputy Associate Administrator for Research (DAA/R) in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and the CKO of SMD. As the DAA/R, Michael is dedicated to improving the efficiency, transparency, and fairness of SMD’s proposal solicitation, evaluation, and selection processes. A key part of this effort is in providing the Program Officers who write solicitations, oversee evaluations, and recommend selections with knowledge of best practices developed in other parts of SMD, NASA, the Academy and the commercial sector.
SMD Knowledge Services Team |
Scientific and Technical Information (STI) |
| Gerald Steeman serves as the Program Manager (Acting) for the NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program. STI is the analyses of data and facts and resulting conclusions of basic and applied scientific, technical, and related engineering research and development. The Program acquires, processes, archives, announces, and disseminates NASA’s STI in the form of technical publications, conference papers, journal articles, presentations, and other formats via the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS). In recent years, supporting agency Open Science initiatives has become a significant activity in the Program’s portfolio.
Specialty: Repository management, discoverability, data management STI Knowledge Services Team |
Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) |
| STMD Knowledge Services Team David Walters | david.c.walters@nasa.gov Stephanie Booth | stephanie.booth@nasa.gov | 202-358-5268 |
Stennis Space Center (SSC) |
| John Stealey serves as the Stennis Space Center (SSC) Engineering and Test Directorate Associate Director and the SSC CKO. Stealey says one of the biggest knowledge management challenges is readily accessing historical technical data online, such as design assumptions and calculations that go with drawings.
Specialty: Lessons learned, knowledge capture and application SSC Knowledge Services Team |