Who is Bhavya Lal, new acting chief of staff at NASA

Indian-American woman Bhavya Lal was roped in as the Acting Chief of Staff of the US space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) on Monday.

Lal will serve as the senior advisor for budget and finance at NASA, said the space agency in a statement.

NASA said in the statement, "Lal brings extensive experience in engineering and space technology, serving as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) from 2005 to 2020."

As the senior White House appointee at NASA, Lal served as a member of the Biden Presidential Transition Agency Review Team for the agency and oversaw its transition under the new Presidency.

"Lal is an active member of the space technology and policy community, having chaired, co-chaired, or served on five high-impact National Academy of Science (NAS) committees," NASA stated.

She published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.

She also served on five National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Committees including one on Space Nuclear Propulsion Technologies being the most recent, set for a release in 2021.

For her many contributions to the space sector, she was nominated and selected to be a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, said NASA.

She is a member of both the nuclear engineering and public policy honor societies.

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