Dr. Marla Pérez-Davis

Dr. Marla Pérez-Davis served as the director of NASA’s John Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to becoming the director, Dr. Pérez-Davis served as Glenn’s deputy director of the Research and Engineering Directorate. She has held several key leadership positions within NASA dating back to 2007 to include the chief of the electrochemistry branch.

Dr. Pérez-Davis is the recipient of numerous awards including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executives. She was also the recipient of the Great Minds in STEM 2021, Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation Engineer of the Year Award; 2015 Crain’s Women of Note; the Top 25 Elite Business Women, Hispanic Business Magazine; Women of Color Technology Award for Career Achievement; and the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Santiago Rodriguez Diversity Award.

 Pérez-Davis, a native of Puerto Rico, earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico; a Master of Science degree from the University of Toledo and a doctoral degree from Case Western Reserve University in Chemical Engineering.