HAMPTON, Va., April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA today announced that Stephen G. Jurczyk has been named director of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., succeeding Lesa Roe who served in that capacity since October 2005.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden made the announcement April 28 in an agency-wide email to employees.

(Jurczyk image available at http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/images/content/461493main_LARRS_10_904_B.jpg)

Jurczyk has been serving as the acting center director since last November when Roe was temporarily assigned to NASA Headquarters as the deputy associate administrator to oversee NASA's Technical Capabilities Assessment Team. Roe will remain in her position as deputy associate administrator.

"I am honored to lead such an outstanding organization and look forward to the opportunity," said Jurczyk. "I want to thank Lesa Roe for her exceptional leadership of the center for nearly nine years, and look forward to working with her in her new position as NASA's deputy associate administrator."

Jurczyk began his NASA career at Langley in 1988 as an electronics engineer in the electronic systems branch. On detail to NASA Headquarters, he managed the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and formulated the technology development strategy for the Earth Science Enterprise. From 1994 to 1997, he was the instrument systems engineer and, later, the spacecraft systems manager for the Landsat 7 project at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

He returned to Langley in 1997 to serve in a variety of leadership positions, including director of systems engineering, director of research and technology, ultimately being selected by Roe in January 2006 to serve as the center's deputy director.

Jurczyk holds bachelor and masters of science degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia. He's married, has two daughters, and lives in Williamsburg, Va.

NASA Langley Research Center was established in 1917 as this nation's first civil aeronautics research laboratory, and today has a workforce of almost 3,600 people, including civil servants and contractors. For almost a century the center's research, science and technology development has revolutionized aviation and spaceflight, and continues to enable NASA's significant contributions to the nation.

The center's work is distinguished by its unique blend of product lines that span from fundamental research to mission development and operations. Langley works in partnership with U.S. industry, universities, and other government institutions to solve national challenges and develop cutting-edge ideas that provide new capabilities, improve performance or reduce cost. This combination of expertise, capabilities and leadership in systems innovation enables on-demand air transportation, improves the understanding, adapting and mitigating of Earth's climate system, and extends human reach throughout the solar system.

For more information about the NASA Langley Research Center visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley

For more information about NASA visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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SOURCE NASA