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Release: 00-291

Stephen Rodgers to head NASA’s Propulsion Research Center at Marshall

Dr. Stephen L. Rodgers has been named manager of NASA's Propulsion Research Center at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Rodgers will lead the Propulsion Research Center’s study of advanced propulsion technologies, supporting development of the next-generation transportation systems and spacecraft needed to achieve NASA's goals for exploration and commercial development of space.

Prior to his new appointment, Rodgers served as deputy of space technologies in the Office of Science, Technology and Engineering at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. He was responsible for developing and managing space-based science, technology and acquisition programs for the United States Air Force.

A native of Pasadena, Calif., Rodgers holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Point Loma College in San Diego, Calif., and a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Nevada in Reno. After concluding graduate work in 1982, he conducted research with Nobel prize-winning chemist Dr. Melvin Calvin at the University of California at Berkeley.

In 1983, Rodgers joined the Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., as a civilian research scientist. A year later, he initiated the

High Energy Density Matter program, selected by the Air Force as one of the most promising future technologies. To further these studies, Rodgers in 1986 helped create the Office of Applied Research in Energy Storage, where he served in a variety of capacities through the end of the decade.

In 1990, Rodgers became chief of the Emerging Technologies branch of the Propulsion Directorate at Phillips Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base. He managed research in advanced chemical and electric propulsion, rocket component materials and advanced propulsion concepts. He was appointed director of the Propulsion Sciences Division at Phillips in 1994, overseeing performance of all basic and applied propulsion research in the areas of propellants, aerophysics and propulsion material applications.

Rodgers left Phillips in 1997 to assume the role of division chief for the Propulsion Sciences and Advanced Concepts Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Propulsion Directorate. Splitting his time between research facilities at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and Edwards Air Force Base, Rodgers directed exploratory and advanced research and development on air-breathing and rocket-based propulsion.

The author or coauthor of more than 30 publications, Rodgers will reside in Madison, Ala., with his wife Jeanette and their children, Steve, Christy, Kathryn and Michael.

The Propulsion Research Center is part of the Space Transportation Directorate at the Marshall Center. As NASA’s premier organization for development of space transportation and propulsion systems, the Marshall Center is leading development of revolutionary technologies intended to dramatically increase program safety and reliability while reducing the overall cost of space transportation.