Program Director, Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation Research Program, National Science Foundation

Dr. Barbara Kenny recently transitioned to the PFI:AIR program from seven years as a program director in the Engineering Research Center program, where she had oversight responsibility for centers in various fields including biomedical and energy/power systems.

Prior to coming to the National Science Foundation in 2006, she worked at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio in aerospace power systems. Her last project was to design the motor control algorithms for a combined flywheel energy storage and attitude control system. She started her career as a U.S. Air Force officer in facilities engineering and retired from the Air Force Reserves as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2006. She has a B.S.E.E. from Cornell University, an M.S.E.E. from the University of Texas—Austin, and her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. She is a senior member of IEEE, serves as an ABET reviewer, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Virginia. In 2010 she received the NSF Director’s Award for Program Management Excellence.