NASA Administrator Names Ryschkewitsch as New Chief Engineer

WASHINGTON - NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has named Michael Ryschkewitsch as the agency’s chief engineer. He succeeds Christopher Scolese, who Griffin selected as NASA’s associate administrator on July 11.

As chief engineer, Ryschkewitsch is responsible for the overall review and technical readiness of all NASA programs. The Office of the Chief Engineer assures that the agency’s development efforts and missions operations are being planned and conducted on a sound engineering basis with proper controls and management of technical risks.

Since October 2005, Ryschkewitsch served as the deputy center director for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Previously, he was director of the Applied Engineering and Technology directorate at Goddard. He joined the center in 1982 as a cryogenics engineer to work on the Cosmic Background Explorer mission. Between those jobs, Ryschkewitsch held several management positions and supported projects from the first servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993 to the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere mission launched in April 2007.

Ryschkewitsch earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1973 and a doctorate from Duke University, Durham, N.C., in 1978. He has received numerous group achievement awards throughout his career. Ryschkewitsch was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership, the Robert Baumann Award for contributions to mission success, and the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Leadership Award.

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