Omar Hatamleh is the Executive Director of the Space Studies Program. Prior to assuming his new assignment, Omar was the Chief Innovation Officer, Engineering at NASA Johnson Space Center responsible for empowering the organization creative thinking and develop capacity to innovate.Prior to that he was the Associate Chief Scientist at NASA ARC responsible for identifying new and promising areas of scientific research and supporting technologies that can be integrated into the Center's capabilities. Previous roles at NASA also included Technology Relationship Manager, Advanced Development Manager, and Space Shuttle Orbiter Structures Subsystem Manager.