K. Elliott Cramer

Mr. K. Elliott Cramer is the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Chief Engineer at the Langley Research Center (LaRC).  Prior to this position Mr. Cramer served as the Associate Director and then Acting Deputy Director for Structures & Materials in the Research Directorate at NASA LaRC, where he led a team of 165 civil servants in 6 research branches developing safe, reliable, lightweight aerospace structures to meet NASA mission needs.  Before his directorate role, Mr. Cramer was the head of the Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch at LaRC, managing a team of civil servants developing novel methods for automated and large area inspection, modeling and data analysis tools, material state awareness technologies, and intelligent measurement and sensor systems.  During his career Mr. Cramer has also completed Headquarters detail assignments in the Office of the Chief Engineer and the Office of the NASA Administrator. Mr. Cramer began his career as an Aerospace Technologist at LaRC in 1989 with the Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch where his research focused on developing novel nondestructive inspection techniques for a variety of NASA applications including the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, the X-37, as well as numerous aeronautics projects.

Mr. Cramer holds 15 U.S. patents on various inventions, including NASA’s Ultrasonic Wire Crimp Inspection Technology, winner of the 2009 NASA Government Invention of the Year Award.  He is a recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including a NASA’s Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal, a NASA Space Flight Awareness (Silver Snoopy) Award, an Outstanding Leadership Medal, and an R&D 100 Award.

Mr. Cramer has authored more than 85 technical reports and publications.  Mr. Cramer hold a B.S. in Physics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in Applied Science from the College of William and Mary.