Jennifer Kibler

Dr. Jennifer L. Kibler is the acting Deputy Director for the Research Directorate (RD). Jennifer developed an impressive understanding of the center and agency as the result of various assignments during her 22 years at Langley. Much of her career has been devoted to research, development, and technology transfer related to air traffic management; however, she deliberately expanded her knowledge through training, details, networks, and growth assignments.

Jennifer joined NASA in 1999 as a Research Psychologist, Human Performance Studies. As a senior researcher within the Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch, Jennifer led numerous research, development, test, and evaluation activities in support of NASA Aeronautics. As her career progressed, her focus shifted from general aviation flight test activities to large-scale human-in-the-loop simulations related to airborne spacing concepts for commercial transport aircraft operating in domestic and oceanic airspace. 

In 2016, Jennifer accepted project management duties supporting the NASA Aeronautics’ Aviation Operations and Safety Program (AOSP). She served as the subproject manager for the Pairwise Trajectory Management (PTM) effort within the Airspace Technology Demonstrations Project. Jennifer transitioned to supervisory roles in 2018 which ultimately led to her selection as the Associate Director for IFS in RD. In that role, she led a team that conducts foundational and applied research in support of NASA’s missions as well as test and evaluation activities for industry and other government agencies via reimbursable agreements. 

Jennifer was selected to temporarily serve as Project Manager for Langley’s City Environment for Range Testing of Autonomous Integrated Navigation (CERTAIN) Smart Center effort. She led the strategic transformation of CERTAIN into an enhanced capability that will positively impact center operations, safety, and research while also contributing to Digital Transformation efforts within and external to Langley.