Jennifer H. Cole

Jennifer H. Cole is the director of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Selected for the position in 2019, Cole provides management and technical direction of the center’s aeronautics activities to ensure the effective and timely support of flight research projects.

Experience

Cole has served the center for more than two decades, bringing a wide range of technical and management experience to her current position. She was appointed acting deputy director for the center’s Programs and Projects directorate from December 2021 through October 2022, supporting the development and execution of the center’s mission activities. From February 2019 through December 2021, she was NASA Armstrong’s deputy Aeronautics Research Director, serving as a conduit for communication and representation between the center and agency ARMD. She previously served as senior flight advisor to the Advanced Air Transport Technologies project and as NASA Armstrong ARMD chief engineer; as chief of NASA Armstrong’s Aerodynamics and Propulsion branch; and as project chief engineer for several projects, including Department of Defense research efforts looking at throttles-only control and using propulsion as control mechanisms. As an aerospace engineer, she worked on a variety of projects, including the X-38 prototype crew return vehicle, X-43 hypersonic scramjet vehicle, and Predator B unmanned aerial system as well as NASA Armstrong’s F/A-18 mission support aircraft projects, including autonomous formation flight and automated aerial refueling. As chief engineer of the Propulsion Controlled Aircraft recovery project, she oversaw a study in which alternate forms of control were investigated for aircraft that had lost their primary flight control system.

Education

Cole earned a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. She served as a wind tunnel assistant in 1996 and 1997 at the university’s Low-Speed, Low-Turbulence Wind Tunnel and in 1998 and 1999, participated in NASA Armstrong’s summer internship program, working in the Aerodynamics and Propulsion branch. While enrolled in Penn State’s master’s program, she taught freshman and sophomore engineering courses within the College of Engineering. Cole is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Penn State Alumni Association.

Technical Papers

Her aerodynamics research has resulted in several technical papers, including “Induced Moment Effects of Formation Flight Using Two F/A-18 Aircraft” in 2002; “The NASA Dryden Flight Test Approach to an Aerial Refueling System” in 2005; “The C-17 Throttles-Only Control Evaluation and Simulation Validation” in 2006; “The Gliding Experiments of the Wright Brothers: The Wrights and Flight Research 1899-1908” in 2007; and “Exploratory Investigation of Transport Vortex-Induced Performance Benefits on a Fighter Aircraft” in 2008.