Director of NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI)
Parimal Kopardekar (PK) serves as the Director of NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI). In that capacity, he is responsible for exploring new trends, collaborations and partnership needs related to aviation enterprise. He also serves as NASA senior technologist for Air Transportation Systems and principal investigator for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) project. He is the recipient of many awards, including NASA Government Invention of the Year, Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal, Outstanding Leadership Award, Engineer of the Year Award, and Samuel J. Heyman Service to America’s Promising Innovation Award. PK was named among 25 most influential people in drone industry. He is Co-Editor-in Chief of Journal of Aerospace Operations and Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also serves as an adjunct faculty and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to operations management and supply chain management.