UW-Madison: Department of Engineering Professional Development announces NASA’s leader of human exploration of space as keynote speaker

MADISON, Wis.—The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Engineering Professional Development is pleased to announce that William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Space Operations for NASA, will be the keynote speaker at the Master of Engineering in Professional Practice (MEPP) summer residency on Monday, August 16, at 8 a.m. at The Pyle Center.

Gerstenmaier currently directs NASA’s space operations directorate. He joined NASA in 1977, performing aeronautical research including wind tunnel tests for the space shuttle. As his career at NASA progressed, Gerstenmaier’s responsibilities expanded to the International Space Station project, for which he became program manager. Today, as Associate Administrator for Space Operations, he oversees and provides strategic guidance for the shuttle, station, space communications, and expendable launch vehicles. Gerstenmaier also manages the congressional policy and the budget for directorate.

Gerstenmaier will speak to engineers enrolled in the MEPP program about engineering leadership. Gerstenmaier plans to share with these experienced engineers his own perspectives and those of his peers at NASA regarding the essential skills for growing as engineering leaders.

Established in 1999, the MEPP program is an online master’s degree in technical leadership that offers full-time working engineers from anywhere in the world the ability to earn a world-class degree from UW-Madison. Each summer the engineers enrolled in the program travel to Madison for a weeklong residency on campus. This week is spent participating in in-depth learning sessions and group collaboration with their classmates and instructors. Engineering leaders from as far away as Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia will come to UW-Madison to attend the residency.

The MEPP program has won several national and international awards for educational excellence. More information about the MEPP technical leadership program is available at mepp.engr.wisc.edu .