Lori Glaze

Dr. Lori Glaze is currently serving as the acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD). In this role, she leads and manages human spaceflight development and operations related to the agency’s Artemis campaign to explore the Moon for scientific discovery and technology advancement, learning how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars. In addition to her acting role, Glaze officially holds the position of deputy associate administrator for the mission directorate. 

Previously she was the director of the Planetary Science Division in the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. During her six years as director, she led agency management for missions to understand the solar system through formulation, development, and operations, including Insight’s landing and mission on Mars, the Mars rover Perseverance beginning its task of Mars Sample Return, Ingenuity’s paradigm-changing powered flights on Mars, DART’s successful impact of an asteroid, the launches of Lucy and Psyche, OSIRIS-REx’s return of material from the asteroid Bennu, and the preparation of Europa Clipper for its launch. 

Prior to her tenure at NASA Headquarters, she was the chief of the Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Deputy Director of Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division. 

As a science researcher, her interests included physical processes in terrestrial and planetary volcanology, atmospheric transport and diffusion processes, and geologic mass movements. She was also involved in many NASA-sponsored Venus mission concept-formulation studies, including as Principal Investigator for the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission until her move to Headquarters. 

Dr. Glaze was born in Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas, Arlington, with a B.A. and M.S. in Physics. She received a doctorate in Environmental Science from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. She has also previously worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Proxemy Research as Vice President and Senior Research Scientist.