National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

Biography

Image Credit: NASA 

Parimal Kopardekar (PK) is the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Mission Integration 

Manager. While PK will continue his current duties as the director of the NASA 

Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI), this appointment will allow additional focus of 

PK’s broad expertise on the AAM mission. And in particular the coordination of ARMD 

wide activities supporting the AAM mission goal of developing a validated AAM system 

architecture that defines a safe, certifiable, and scalable AAM system. 

PK also serves as a senior leader and advisor for the Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate with a keen focus on airspace operations and integration including unmanned 

aircraft systems, advance air mobility, wildland fire management, autonomy, and future 

airspace operations. In this capacity, he is responsible for exploring new trends, research 

areas, collaborations, and partnerships relevant to aeronautics enterprise. 

He enjoys initiating new concepts and technology ideas that increase airspace capacity 

and throughput, reduce delays, and reduce the total cost of air transportation. At NASA, 

he has initiated many innovative research projects including reduced crew operations, 

net-enabled air traffic management, autonomy for airspace operations, Shadow-Mode 

Assessment using Realistic Technologies for the National Airspace System, and low-altitude 

airspace management system focused on Unmanned Aircraft Systems operations.

Recently, he co-led a comprehensive needs assessment study for wildfire mitigations. In 

the past, he served as the NASA’s senior technologist for Air Transportation Systems. He 

invented Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management to safely enable large-scale drone 

operations at lower altitudes, which is now being globally adopted. He also chairs the 

International Civil Aviation Organization’s unmanned aircraft system advisory group.

He is a recipient of many awards, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics Hap Arnold Award for Programmatic Excellence, NASA Government 

Invention of the Year, NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal, NASA 

Outstanding Leadership Award, NASA Engineer of the Year Award, and the prestigious 

Samuel J. Heyman Service to America’s Promising Innovation Award.

PK was named among 25 most influential people in drone industry. He serves as the 

Co-Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Aerospace Operations and is a Fellow of the American 

Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics as well as Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical 

Society. He also serves as an adjunct faculty and teaches undergraduate and graduate-level 

courses related to operations management, supply chain management, and innovation. 

He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from University of Cincinnati and a Master of Science 

degree from University at Buffalo in Industrial Engineering, and a Bachelor of Engineering 

degree from University of Bombay in Production Engineering.

Parimal Kopardekar (PK)

Mission Integration Manager, for the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Mission

NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD)