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Photo of Carol Carrol with the U.S. flag behind her.

Carol Carroll

Deputy Associate Administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

Ms. Carol Carroll is the deputy associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. She is responsible for leading long-term strategic, portfolio, and budget planning and analysis for ARMD to guide long-term portfolio requirements and program balance to meet national needs. 

Carroll oversees mission directorate operations and organizational development, as well as supervises the Portfolio Analysis and Management Office. She authoritatively represents ARMD on behalf of the associate administrator as needed, at agency governance councils, interagency councils, and with external stakeholders.

She has more than 30 years of engineering and executive leadership experience at NASA and in the industry. She has served in a variety of engineering, flight and facility project management, and organizational leadership positions.

Prior to joining ARMD, Carroll was the deputy center director at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, where she worked with the center director and a team of civil servants and contractors to provide critical research and technology development enabling advances in aeronautics, science, exploration, and technology development for NASA and the nation.

Carroll began her career in the industry as a design engineer working on launch systems for the Department of Defense. She started at NASA Ames in 1991 as a system safety engineer contractor working on the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel Modernization project. She became a civil servant in 1994, working as a project manager responsible for delivering critical thermal protection system flight hardware for numerous NASA missions, ultimately serving as the division chief. In 2001, she worked at NASA Headquarters as a program executive for the In-space Propulsion Program in the Office of Space Science. Upon returning to Ames, she served as the program manager for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy where she led the restructuring of the program and positioned the government to successfully complete development of the world’s largest flying observatory.

She became the deputy director for science at NASA Ames in 2010. Simultaneously she served as the director of the International Space Station Utilization Office at Ames, where she led the development of technologies to enable research and development on-station. She then became the director of Human Capital at Ames leading an innovative team to transform the hiring and development of a world class workforce.

Carroll has received numerous honors and awards including the 2021 Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service, the Virginia Tech Academy of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Excellence Award in 2021, the 2014 Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the Boeing Pride in Engineering Excellence Award.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech and completed the Senior Executive Fellows program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

AERONAUTICS RESEARCH MISSION DIRECTORATE LEADERSHIP

Associate Administrator

Photo of Carol Carrol with the U.S. flag behind her.

Deputy Associate Administrator

Deputy Associate Administrator for Policy

Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs (Acting) / Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Missions