David E. Bowles, executive director of the Virginia Institute for Spaceflight and Autonomy (VISA), has been reappointed to Virginia's Aerospace Advisory Council by Gov. Ralph Northam.
VISA, a research enterprise of the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center at Old à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã University, was approved in 2019 by the Virginia General Assembly to leverage the commonwealth's expanding space facilities and growing capability to support advances in satellites and autonomous systems, the sensors they carry and the data they produce.
Bowles joined VISA in October 2019 after working at NASA Langley for more than 35 years, serving as associate director and deputy director before being appointed center director in June 2015. In that role, he supported NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, the Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Office of the Chief Technologist
Bowles has received numerous awards, including NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2005 and 2015, and the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive in 2017.
