Brian Welch
Headquarters, Washington, DC             August 16, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1600)

RELEASE: 95-139

GROSS NAMED NASA INSPECTOR GENERAL

     Following nomination by President Bill Clinton, Roberta 
L. Gross has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become 
NASA's Inspector General.  The Senate confirmed Gross on 
Friday, Aug. 11.

     Gross was born in Dayton, OH, and was formerly the 
Director of Investigations and Counsel to the Inspector 
General for Amtrak from March 1990.  She was a civil staff 
attorney for the Office of Corporation Counsel for the 
District of Columbia from March 1982 to November 1983 until 
being named chief of a civil litigation section from November 
1983 to July 1989.  Other previous positions included staff 
attorney for the consumer protection division with the 
Federal Trade Commission from February 1978 to October 1979 
and Assistant District Attorney for the Office of District 
Attorney (Northern District) Cambridge, MA, from September 
1978 to October 1979.  Prior to those positions, Gross taught 
at the secondary level in Massachusetts.

     Gross holds a bachelor's degree in English/philosophy 
from Vassar College, a master's degree in English from the 
University of Michigan and a J.D. degree from Northeastern 
University.  She is married with two children and resides in 
Washington, DC.

     The Office of the Inspector General performs audits and 
investigations to assist NASA management in promoting 
economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the administration 
of the agency's programs and operations.  With over 88 
percent of NASA's budget allocated for procurement, a 
significant amount of the Inspector General's activity is 
directed toward detecting and preventing mismanagement  and 
contract fraud. 

                    -end-

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