Associate Administrator for Technology, Policy & Strategy, NASA
Dr. Bhavya Lal is the associate administrator for the NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) within the office of the NASA administrator. She provides executive leadership, direction, and evidence-driven advice to NASA leadership on internal and external policy issues, strategic planning, and technology investments. Lal also previously served as the acting chief technologist of NASA and was the first woman to hold the position in over 60 years of NASA history. Before her current role and in the first 100 days of the Biden Administration, she was the acting chief of staff at NASA, directing the agency’s transition under the administration of President Biden.
Lal has over 20 years of experience as an active part of the space technology and policy community, having worked for government sponsors, federal departments, and agencies, and chaired, co-chaired, or served on multiple committees. She has more than 50 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.
Lal received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a second master’s from MIT’s Technology and Policy Program. She earned her doctorate in Public Policy and Public Administration from George Washington University.