Erica Rodgers

Dr. Erica Rodgers is the director of advanced programs for NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy. Rodgers defines and shapes studies of agency and national importance to provide data- and evidence-driven technology, policy, and strategy advice to NASA leadership. Rodgers leads the Science and Technology Partnership Forum and establishes coordination frameworks across U.S. government space agencies. Rodgers provides leadership in developing and advancing strategic policy guidance and identifying emerging technologies and opportunities to inform national space policy and NASA’s future mission needs. Rodgers leverages expertise in space science research, spaceflight mission execution, systems engineering, space concepts design, systems and capability analysis of human exploration architectures, and satellite mission operations to lead across OTPS’s portfolio.

Prior to joining NASA in 2014, Rodgers served as a research scientist for the Space Science Institute, while teaching astronomy and astrophysics at several colleges and universities. As a research assistant at the Geophysical Institute and at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Rodgers developed science instrumentation for successful satellite and sounding rocket missions. While conducting research, Rodgers worked in the aerospace industry as a systems engineer at Spectrum Astro and as a manager of satellite operations at a semi-remote NOAA tracking station in Alaska.

Rodgers received her doctorate in space physics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Rodgers has authored numerous technical and journal papers, is a fellow of the NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program, and she is the recipient of the NASA Early Career Achievement Medal.