Gregory L. Robinson

Gregory L. Robinson is an American engineer and the former director of the James Webb Space Telescope Program at NASA.[2]

Gregory L. Robinson
Official portrait, 2018
Born1960[1]
Danville, Virginia, U.S.
EducationAverett University, M.B.A
Howard University, B.S.
Virginia Union University, B.S.
Known forProgram Director of the James Webb Space Telescope
Scientific career
InstitutionsNASA

Early life

Robinson was the 9th of 11 children born to tobacco sharecroppers in rural Virginia.[3] He attended a segregated elementary school until 1970, then attended Dan River High School, where he graduated in 1978.[4]

Education

Robinson received a full-ride football scholarship to Virginia Union University, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics.[4] He then transferred to Howard University and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.[5] Robinson also has an MBA from Averett College.[6] He later attended the Harvard Kennedy School as a Senior Executive Fellow.[4]

Career

Robinson joined NASA in 1989, and quickly became a manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He has been Deputy Center Director of the John H. Glenn Research Center, where he oversaw 114 missions, from 2005 to 2013 was the NASA Deputy Chief Engineer, and from 2018 to 2022, was the director of the Webb Space Telescope Program.[6][7] As the director of the Webb Telescope Program, he oversaw the program that included over 20,000 people, and he successfully saw the launch of the telescope which had been delayed many times before Robinson took over the project.[8] He has also taught in the George Washington University Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering.[9]

For his role in improving the performance of the Webb program, Robinson's supervisor, Thomas Zurbuchen, called him "the most effective leader of a mission I have ever seen in the history of NASA."[10] Zurbuchen credited Robinson with raising the program's schedule efficiency (how many measures were completed on time) from 50% to 95%.[10] In 2022, Robinson was named to the Time 100 list of influential people, as well as Time Innovator of the Year in 2022.[11][8] In July 2022, after Webb's commissioning process was complete and it began transmitting its first data, Robinson retired, following a 33-year career at NASA.[7]

Since 2020, Robinson has taught at Columbia University.[12]

Awards

Robinson received many awards and accolades for his work as the director of the James Webb Space Telescope Program including:

Personal life

Robinson and his wife, Cynthia, have three daughters and several grandchildren.[6]

References
  1. "Gregory Robinson (1960- )". BlackPast.org. February 21, 2022. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  2. "Gregory Robinson, James Webb Space Telescope Program Director | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2022-06-05. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  3. Treisman, Rachel (July 15, 2022). "How the son of sharecroppers helped send the world's most powerful telescope to space". Morning Edition. NPR. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  4. "Gregory Robinson (1960- ) •". 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  5. Chang, Kenneth (2022-07-11). "He Fixed NASA's Giant Space Telescope, Reluctantly". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  6. Milloy, Courtland (January 11, 2022). "Perspective: Gregory Robinson's universe has taken him from a Virginia farm to the stars". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  7. Potter, Sean (2022-07-22). "NASA Webb Program Director Greg Robinson Announces Retirement". NASA. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  8. "Gregory Robinson and the James Webb Telescope Is TIME's 2022 Innovator of the Year". Time. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  9. "Gregory L. Robinson | Columbia University School of Professional Studies". sps.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  10. Cohen, Ben (2022-07-08). "The NASA Engineer Who Made the James Webb Space Telescope Work". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2022-07-11. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  11. Potter, Sean (2022-05-23). "NASA's Webb Program Director Named to TIME100 List". NASA. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  12. "Meet the Columbia Lecturer Who Led NASA's James Webb Space Telescope". Columbia News. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  13. Potter, Sean (2022-11-15). "NASA Executives Receive Presidential Rank Awards". NASA. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  14. Medals, Samuel J. Heyman Service to America. "Gregory Robinson". Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  15. "Gregory L. Robinson: The 100 Most Influential People of 2022". Time. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  16. "STEM Trailblazers Archives". Ebony. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  17. Potter, Sean (2022-11-15). "NASA Executives Receive Presidential Rank Awards". NASA. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
  18. "Stibitz-Wilson Awards".
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