Indian-American Bhavya Lal appointed acting Chief of Staff of NASA

Indian American, Bhavya Lal has been appointed as the senior advisor for budget and finance, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Monday. Nuclear scientist, Bhavya will now take over as the acting Chief of Staff of NASA.

"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," the press release from NASA read.

Prior to her membership at STPI, Lal served as the director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Studies at Abt Associates.

She also served on five National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Committees, published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and was nominated and selected to be a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Lal is also a member of the nuclear engineer society and co-founded the American Nuclear Society's annual conference on Nuclear and Emerging Technology in Space (NETS).