Gregory L. Robinson is an American engineer and the former director of the James Webb Space Telescope Program at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Early life

Robinson was the 9th of 11 children born to tobacco

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

in rural

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. He attended a segregated elementary school until 1970, then attended Dan River High School, where he graduated in 1978.

Education

Robinson received a full-ride football scholarship to

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Richmond, Virginia. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Rich ...

, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He then transferred to

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. Robinson also has an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Averett College Averett University is a private Baptist university in Danville, Virginia. Founded in 1859 as a women's college, Averett became a 4-year, coeducational institution in 1969. In 2011, the university restored its Baptist affiliation, renewing a relat ...

. He later attended the

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

as a Senior Executive Fellow.

Career

Robinson joined NASA in 1989, and quickly became a manager at the

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC ...

. He has been Deputy Center Director of the

John H. Glenn Research Center NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a subsidiary facil ...

, where he oversaw 114 missions, from 2005 to 2013 was the NASA Deputy Chief Engineer, and from 2018 to 2022, was the director of the Webb Space Telescope Program. As the director of the Webb Telescope Program, he oversaw the program that included over 20,000 people, and he successfully saw the launch of the telescope which had been delayed many times before Robinson took over the project. He has also taught in the

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering. For his role in improving the performance of the Webb program, Robinson's supervisor,

Thomas Zurbuchen Thomas Hansueli Zurbuchen (born 1968) is a Swiss-American astrophysicist. From October 2016 until the end of 2022, he was the longest continually running Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA. Prior to this, he was P ...

, called him "the most effective leader of a mission I have ever seen in the history of NASA." Zurbuchen credited Robinson with raising the program's schedule efficiency (how many measures were completed on time) from 50% to 95%. In 2022, Robinson was named to the ''Time'' 100 list of influential people, as well as Time Innovator of the Year in 2022. In July 2022, after Webb's commissioning process was complete and it began transmitting its first data, Robinson retired, following a 33-year career at NASA. Since 2020, Robinson has taught at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Awards

Robinson received many awards and accolades for his work as the director of the James Webb Space Telescope Program including: *2013: NASA Presidential Rank Distinguished Executive Award *2022: Federal Employee of the Year (

Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, also known as "the Sammies", honor members of the federal government workforce, highlighting the work of employees making significant contributions to the governance of the United States. The awards ...

) *2022: Time 100 Most Influential People of 2022 *2022: Time 2022 Innovator of the Year *2022:

EBONY Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

Power 100 *2022: NASA Presidential Rank Distinguished Executive Award *2023: Stibitz-Wilson Award from the

American Computer & Robotics Museum The American Computer & Robotics Museum (ACRM), formerly known as the American Computer Museum, is a museum of the history of computing, communications, artificial intelligence and robotics that is located in Bozeman, Montana, United States. Th ...

*2025: Honorary Doctor of Science from

Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...

Personal life

Robinson and his wife, Cynthia, have three daughters and several grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Gergory L. Living people 21st-century African-American scientists Averett University alumni Howard University alumni Columbia University faculty Virginia Union University alumni Virginia Union Panthers football players People from Danville, Virginia 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics 1960 births American engineers