Indian American Bhavya Lal Appointed As Acting Chief At NASA

Another Indian American made it to the administration of Joe Biden, the President of the United States of America (U.S.A.)

Bhavya Lal, who initially oversaw the agency’s transition, would now lead as the Space Agency’s Acting Chief of Staff at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA.)

Ms. Lal is the senior appointee of the White House under the new administration of Joe Biden. In the past she served as a member of the Biden Presidential Transition Agency Review Team for the agency.

This is a proud moment for India, as Bhavya Lal is the 11th Indian name in the Joe Biden Administration of the United States.

In a statement, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said, “NASA has named appointees for senior agency positions. Bhavya Lal joins the agency as acting chief of staff, Phillip Thompson will serve as White House liaison, Alicia Brown will serve as associate administrator for the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, and Marc Etkind will serve as associate administrator for the agency’s Office of Communications. In addition, Jackie McGuinness will join the agency as press secretary and Reagan Hunter will serve as special assistant for the agency’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.”

Bhavya Lal is experienced in engineering and space technology and served as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defence Analyses (IDA) Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) from 2005 to 2020.

Before joining the STPI, she served as president of a science and technology policy research and consulting firm in Waltham, Massachusetts. Before that, she served as director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Studies at Abt Associates Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts.