2021 HENAAC Awards

NASA Glenn Research Center is no stranger to history.  The Cleveland, Ohio, facility has been the site of revolutionary advances in flight, from the first liquid hydrogen and oxygen fueled engines – now the standard propulsion system on most space-bound rockets – to the next generation Ion thrusters currently under development there. The center itself was renamed in 1999 after astronaut John H. Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.

And so it should come as no surprise that Glenn Research Center made history again when Dr. Marla Pérez-Davis became the first Puerto Rican woman to lead a NASA Center when she was named Director in 2019.

In her current role, Dr. Pérez-Davis is responsible for managing a staff of over thirty-two hundred civil servant and contractor employees, and she oversees an annual budget of more than $900 million. This appointment is the crowning achievement of a remarkable career that began with an auspicious encounter with a NASA recruiter at a job fair while she was an undergrad at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez. 

Her commitment to excellence was clear even in the early days of her career, and she quickly took on management roles of increasing scope, profile and budget, rising to Deputy Director in 2014.

Under Dr. Marla Pérez-Davis’ leadership, Glenn Research Center continues its long legacy of significant advances to technologies that impact multiple flight programs across the world. Her current portfolio includes propulsion systems, testing novel designs and platforms for the future of flight, as well as advanced research and development into revolutionary new materials with numerous aircraft and spacecraft applications.

Perhaps the most high-profile project at Glenn today is the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster, or NEXT, an ion propulsion system expected to be about three times more powerful than the current state of the art engine technology and will power future generations of spacecraft across the solar system.

In addition to her world-class technical achievements and leadership, Dr. Pérez-Davis has established herself as a champion of Diversity and Inclusion throughout her career. Great Minds in STEM recognized this way back in 2001 when they honored her with the Santiago Rodriguez Diversity Award.  Even as she assumed more senior positions at NASA, she continues to engage with groups like the Glenn Hispanic Advisory Group, Esperanza, and G-M-i-S, to name just a few. 

With numerous professional publication and citations to her credit, Dr. Pérez-Davis has received numerous awards over the years, including the prestigious NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, as well as the agency’s Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executives.