Keoki Jackson

In May 1995, with Dava J. Newman and J. J. BloombergBloomberg L.P.Bloomberg L.P. is a global financial technology, data and media company founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981. It began by providing terminal services that deliver data, analytics and news to financial professionals, and launched Bloomberg News in 1990. Michael Bloomberg has pledged the vast majority of the company’s profits to his philanthropic organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies.Open the full entry, he presented a study at the 66th Aerospace Medical Association meeting in which crews of several space shuttle missions hopped down from a 30 cm step before and after flight; hip and knee flexion was greater and recovery slower after flight, implying reduced lower-limb stiffness and damping from microgravity exposure.⁠[1]

He recalls being an aviation and space enthusiast from childhood who followed the Voyager missions and space shuttle development in grade school; a freshman seminar at MIT drew him fully into aerospace, and in graduate school he worked on experiments on two space shuttle missions, testing astronauts at NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U.S. federal agency responsible for the civilian space program, aeronautics research and space science. Established by law in 1958 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has run programs including Mercury, the Apollo Moon landings, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and Artemis.Open the full entry Johnson Space Center and Cape Canaveral on how they adapted to space and readapted on return to Earth.⁠[2]

In 1997 he received an Sc.D. from MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics with the thesis Development of full-body models for human jump landing dynamics and control, advised by Dava J. Newman.⁠[3]

He earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and later completed the Stanford Executive Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; before joining Lockheed Martin he was a NASA research fellow at MIT studying human adaptation to the space environment. He is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.⁠[4]

He joined Lockheed Martin in 1997 and later served as vice president of navigation systems, overseeing the company’s GPS III positioning, navigation and timing satellites.⁠[5]

Over more than two decades at Lockheed Martin he contributed directly to the design, development, deployment and flight operation of major national security spacecraft and programs, holding management roles on GPS III and the Space-based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning program.⁠[6]

In October 1997 he, Newman and Bloomberg published a paper in Experimental Brain Research, volume 117, testing jump landings of nine shuttle astronauts before and after flight; most showed “compliant” impact absorption afterwards and a few “stiff” behavior, changes attributed to adaptive modification of lower-limb impedance control.⁠[7]

On February 28, 2013, Lockheed Martin announced it had powered on the system module of SV-1, the first GPS III satellite. As vice president of its Navigation Systems mission area, he called it a major milestone and said the team was focused on delivering GPS III capabilities affordably and on schedule in a challenging budget environment.⁠[8]

On February 18, 2015, Lockheed Martin appointed him vice president and chief technology officer, effective immediately, following the retirement of Ray Johnson on February 1, 2015; Rod Makoske was named senior vice president for corporate engineering, technology and operations the same day.⁠[9]

He was responsible for the corporation’s advanced technology strategy and external R&D relationships; he had previously been vice president for Program Excellence, integrating the corporation’s five functional councils.⁠[9]

On September 5, 2018, as Lockheed Martin’s CTO, he gave the talk Defending the Future at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018, discussing the company’s latest work in artificial intelligence and space travel.⁠[10]

On September 24, 2018, he delivered the Charles Rolls and Henry Royce Memorial Lecture at Purdue University, titled Innovations on the Horizon of Flight.⁠[11]

On February 4, 2019, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announced its Class of 2019 Fellows, including him from Lockheed Martin; the induction was scheduled for May 15, 2019, in Washington, D.C.⁠[12]

He appeared on episode 33 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast as Lockheed Martin’s CTO; the episode description mentions the company’s fast, stealthy aircraft, defense systems that intercept missile threats, and crewed and uncrewed spacecraft bound for the Moon, Mars and beyond.⁠[13]

In January 2020, after five years as CTO, he became chief engineer and vice president of engineering and program operations, responsible for integrating company-wide operations such as supply chain, quality, sustainment and program management and for developing data analytics capabilities; former DARPA director Steven Walker succeeded him as CTO.⁠[14]

In February 2020, as Lockheed Martin’s chief engineer, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for developing human and technological aerospace capabilities for national security and for promoting global technology cooperation.⁠[15]

On April 5, 2021, MITRE named him senior vice president and general manager of MITRE National Security, responsible for its national security programs for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community and for leading the National Security Engineering Center; his last Lockheed Martin role had been vice president of supply chain and program performance.⁠[16]

MITRE president and CEO Jason Providakes said his leadership and record of delivery on large, complex defense programs would strengthen MITRE’s national impact and partnership with industry. With Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityStanford University is a research university in California founded by Leland and Jane Stanford in 1885 and opened in 1891.Open the full entry he had created the Lockheed Martin–Stanford spacecraft and rocket design programs, in which students developed CubeSats or hybrid rockets over 18 months, and he taught guidance, navigation and control in Stanford’s graduate spacecraft engineering course.⁠[17]

On April 1, 2025, AIAA announced that he had been chosen as President-Elect for 2025–2026 and would serve as AIAA President for 2026–2028.⁠[18]

At ASCEND 2026, AIAA immediate past president Dan Hastings passed the gavel to him, beginning his two-year term as president.⁠[19]

He has served on the Sandia Corporation board of directors and the AIAA Foundation board of trustees, and was a member of NIST’s Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology with a term ending May 21, 2024.⁠[6]

Lockheed Martin: Official website: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[8]

MITRE: Official website: https://www.mitre.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: Official website: https://aiaa.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[18]