Gary L. Martin has been named to a key new position within the agency designed to help make NASA's future exploration and research goals possible. Martin, who has served as Assistant Associate Administrator for Advanced Systems in NASA's Office of Space Flight, will serve as the agency's Space Architect.

The Space Architect reports to the Deputy Administrator. Martin will set NASA's future technology requirements and monitor development programs, to ensure systems will be ready when needed, to support next-generation science objectives.

"Gary has years of experience working to integrate our technology programs to better plan and prepare for NASA's future. If we're going to better understand our home planet and explore the universe, we're going to need an assortment of new tools and technologies," said Deputy Administrator Frederick D. Gregory. "His advanced concept work and integration management activities are valuable assets for this agency as we look to responsibly invest in the technologies that will make NASA's missions of tomorrow possible."

Space Science, Earth Science, Biological and Physical Research, Aeronautics, and Space Flight-as well as those working on interdisciplinary efforts such as space exploration, will report to the newly established Joint Strategic Assessment Team, through the Space Architect, about their activities related to NASA's long term strategy for aerospace research.

Martin began his career at NASA in 1990 as a program manager and branch chief in what was then known as Microgravity Sciences and Applications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He then moved to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., to serve as the integration manager for the Space Science program focused on the Structure and Evolution of the Universe. Martin was part of the initial management team for the James Webb telescope, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

In 1997, Martin became the Chief of the NASA Technology Planning and Integration Office, which managed technology development programs for three of the agency's primary enterprises.

In 2000, Martin returned to Headquarters to lead the Advanced Systems Office for Space Flight. He chaired the NASA Exploration Team, also known as NEXT, a cross-enterprise team of key technology and systems experts from NASA's centers, working to develop a long-term strategy for human and robotic space exploration and research.