Jer Chyi (J-C) Liou

Dr. Liou is the NASA Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris and Program Manager for the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, which is a Delegated Program under the NASA HQ Office of Safety and Mission Assurance. Dr. Liou has conducted research on dynamics of asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust, and orbital debris. He has more than 20 years of experience on orbital debris environment modeling, in-situ measurements, laboratory impact tests, and mitigation policy development. He is the head of the NASA delegation to the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and the COPUOS Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC).

Dr. Liou earned a B.S. in Physics from the National Central University in Taiwan, and attended University of Florida for both his master and Ph.D. in Astronomy. He was a U.S. National Research Council Postdoc fellow at NASA Johnson Space Center before joining the orbital debris group. Dr. Liou has received several major awards from Lockheed Martin and Jacobs/ESCG/ERC, the NASA astronaut’s Silver Snoopy Award, the JSC Director’s Commendation Award, and the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal.