Jason Kalirai, Mission Area Executive for Civil Space at Johns Hopkins University APL

Jason Kalirai joined the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in November 2018 as mission area executive for civil space.

John Hopkins APL aims to solve complex research, engineering and analytical problems that present critical challenges to the country.

Kalirai is primarily responsible for APL’s space-science research programs under civil space. He leads efforts supporting missions dedicated to meeting decades-long challenges in space exploration, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He is also part of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, where he has been an associate astronomer with tenure since 2014. He has also worked on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, first as deputy project scientist from 2010 to 2013, then as project scientist from 2013 to 2016.

The James Webb Space Telescope is billed as the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope to be launched in space.

He is also a former Hubble fellow postdoctoral researcher at University of California Santa Cruz.

Kalirai is knowledgeable in data analysis, spectroscopy, mathematical modeling, public policy, strategic communications, statistics, scientific writing, research, strategic planning, image processing, aerospace and project management.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in honors physics and astronomy from the University of British Columbia. He continued his postgraduate studies at UBC and earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in astrophysics.