NASA chief technologist stepping down

NASA's chief technologist, Bobby Braun, plans to leave the agency next month to return to the Georgia Institute of Technology, NASA officials announced.

Braun served as an adviser and advocate on agencywide technology policy and programs at NASA through a two-year Intergovernmental Personnel Act agreement with the university.

"When I asked Bobby to join the NASA leadership team and establish the new Office of the Chief Technologist, I had to pull him away from his family and his work as a professor and researcher at Georgia Tech," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a written statement. "Bobby has rebuilt our basic and applied research capabilities, created technology programs to enable our agency's future success, and clearly articulated the importance of NASA's technology investments as an integral component of our nation's space policy. He's done an incredible job, and we're indebted to him for his exemplary public service."

Braun helped create NASA's Space Technology Program, a research and development effort to create technologies for future space missions.