After graduating from Rice University in 1984, Dr. Newman did an additional year of post-doctoral work at Rice. In 1985, Dr. Newman was appointed as adjunct professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. That same year he came to work at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where his duties included responsibility for conducting flight crew and flight control team training for all mission phases in the areas of Orbiter propulsion, guidance, and control. When selected for the astronaut program he was working as a simulation supervisor responsible for a team of instructors conducting flight controller training.

In March 2006, Dr. Newman was detailed to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California, as a NASA Visiting Professor in the NPS Space Systems Academic Group. Dr. Newman left NASA in July 2008 to accept a position as Professor, Space Systems at NPS to continue his involvement in teaching and research, with an emphasis on using very small satellites in hands-on education and for focused research projects of national interest.

NPS Profile: https://nps.edu/faculty-profiles/-/cv/jhnewman

NASA Profile: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/newman_james.pdf


For comments, suggestions, and critiques, please email us at TridentRoomPodcastHost@nps.edu, and find us online at nps.edu/tridentroompodcast. Thank you!

The views expressed in this interview are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the US Navy, or the Naval Postgraduate School.