Woman of the Week - Jill Marlowe

This week’s WoW was submitted by user WoodwardDL. If you know someone who should be featured, let us know!

Jill Marlowe is a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer and has advanced in the Engineering and Management sectors of NASA Langley. Based in in Hampton, VA, she is currently the Associate Center Director, Technical, at NASA Langley Research Center. In her role, Marlowe leads strategy and transformation of the center's technical capabilities to enable NASA's future missions. She is particularly focused on accelerating the center's external collaborations beyond aerospace, and the infusion of digital technologies to thrive as a modern federal laboratory in today's competitive, connected, fast-paced, and technology-enabled world.

Marlowe graduated from Virginia Tech in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, then immediately followed that with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1990. Still interested in rounding out her education, she then completed her Degree of Engineer in Civil and Environmental Engineering from George Washington University in 1997.

Marlowe's first job was with General Dynamics Electric Boat Division, where she was a structural analyst in the design of submarines, using finite element analysis on the 688, Trident, and Seawolf submarines.

In 1990, her career started at NASA Langley, where she was first an engineer, then Assistant Head in the Structural and Thermal Analysis Branch. She advanced to Head of the Mechanical Systems Branch until 2005, then progressed to Head, Structural Dynamics Branch. In 2008 she became the Integrated Design and Analysis Manager for the Ares I-X mission, which was the first flight test demonstration of the Ares launch vehicle intended to replace the Space Shuttle. In that role, she led a team of 90-plus engineers across five NASA centers, to assure that the design requirements and hardware for each rocket segment would integrate to achieve the required overall vehicle performance.

In 2009, Marlowe entered the Federal Senior Executive Service as Deputy Director, Engineering Directorate, leading a 500-plus person team in the design and fabrication of flight and ground test articles including flight instruments. This led to her service from 2012- – 2018 as Director, Research Directorate, where her team of more than 1,000 people operated approximately 40 wind tunnels and companion compute clusters as part of her 1.8 million square feet of laboratories required to conduct cutting edge research and technology development in aerosciences, structures and materials, and intelligent flight systems, primarily to advance America's aviation interests.

She has been active in several organizations outside of NASA:

• · AIAA Associate Fellow
• · Old Dominion University, Batten College of Engineering & Technology - Advisory Board
• · AIAA SciTech Forum - Executive Steering Committee, culminating in 2019 Forum Chair
• · Virginia Tech, Aerospace & Ocean Engineering Department - Advisory Boar
• · Sandia National Laboratory Engineering Sciences Research Foundation Review Board
• · Virginia Space Grant Consortium - Advisory Board

Some specific awards include:

• · NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal
• · NASA Champion of Innovation
• · Girl Scouts - Outstanding Leader Award

For more about Marlowe, view her page on NASA’s website as well as this recent interview.