NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Manager, NASA JPL
Dr. Gary H. Blackwood is the Program Manager for the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He earned his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from MIT. He has been an employee at JPL since 1988 and has worked on technology development for precision astronomical instruments and astrophysics missions including the Hubble Wide/Field Planetary Camera-2, the StarLight formation-flying interferometer, the Space Interferometry Mission and the Terrestrial Planet Finder. Since 2012 he has served as the Program Manager for the Exoplanet Exploration Program, managed by JPL for the Astrophysics Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate – NASA’s search for habitable worlds and for evidence of life beyond the solar system. Dr. Blackwood is responsible for managing a program for NASA APD that is comprised of flight projects, ground instruments, technology development, mission studies and science community service. He received the JPL Magellan Award for exceptional leadership of the Exoplanet Program in 2015. In 2014, Dr. Blackwoodreceived NASA’s Federal Acquisition Certificate for a Program/Project manager, establishing his credentials at the senior expert level and admitting him to the agency’s Professional Acquisition Community.