National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

Biography

Image Credit: NASA

Ms. Carol Carroll is the deputy associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research 

Mission Directorate (ARMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. She is 

responsible for leading long-term strategic, portfolio, and budget planning and analysis 

for ARMD to guide long-term portfolio requirements and program balance to meet 

national needs. 

Carroll oversees mission directorate operations and organizational development, as well as 

supervises the Portfolio Analysis and Management Office. She authoritatively represents 

ARMD on behalf of the associate administrator as needed, at agency governance 

councils, interagency councils, and with external stakeholders.

She has more than 30 years of engineering and executive leadership experience at NASA 

and in the industry. She has served in a variety of engineering, flight and facility project 

management, and organizational leadership positions.

Prior to joining ARMD, Carroll was the deputy center director at NASA’s Ames 

Research Center in California, where she worked with the center director and a team of 

civil servants and contractors to provide critical research and technology development 

enabling advances in aeronautics, science, exploration, and technology development for 

NASA and the nation.

Carroll began her career in the industry as a design engineer working on launch 

systems for the Department of Defense. She started at NASA Ames in 1991 as a system 

safety engineer contractor working on the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel Modernization 

project. She became a civil servant in 1994, working as a project manager responsible 

for delivering critical thermal protection system flight hardware for numerous NASA 

missions, ultimately serving as the division chief. In 2001, she worked at NASA 

Headquarters as a program executive for the In-space Propulsion Program in the Office 

of Space Science. Upon returning to Ames, she served as the program manager for the 

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy where she led the restructuring of the 

program and positioned the government to successfully complete development of the 

world’s largest flying observatory.

She became the deputy director for science at NASA Ames in 2010. Simultaneously she 

served as the director of the International Space Station Utilization Office at Ames, where 

she led the development of technologies to enable research and development on-station. 

She then became the director of Human Capital at Ames leading an innovative team to 

transform the hiring and development of a world class workforce.

Ms. Carol Carroll

Deputy Associate Administrator

NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

Biography

Carroll has received numerous honors and awards including the 2021 Presidential 

Rank Award for Distinguished Service, the Virginia Tech Academy of Aerospace and 

Ocean Engineering Excellence Award in 2021, the 2014 Presidential Rank Award for 

Meritorious Service, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the Boeing Pride in 

Engineering Excellence Award.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech and 

completed the Senior Executive Fellows program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School 

of Government.

Ms. Carol Carroll (continued)

Deputy Associate Administrator

NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD)