Eugene Tu

Eugene L. Tu (born September 1, 1964) is an American aerospace engineer. Since May 4, 2015, he is the eleventh director of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California.

Early life and education Tu was born in 1964 to a Chinese-American family. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1988. He attended Stanford University, where he earned a Master of Science in aeronautics and astronautics in 1990 and a doctorate in 1996.

Career Tu first joined NASA as a research scientist studying steady and turbulent flow on aircraft configurations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). He also worked in the computational aerodynamics and high-performance computing programs before being selected in 1997 as deputy program manager for NASA's IT Base Research program. The next year, he also became program manager for NASA's High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) program.

On May 4, 2015, Tu was appointed the eleventh center director for Ames Research Center, succeeding Pete Worden. He leads four technology research and development divisions, including the consolidated Arc Jet Complex and the supercomputing facility at Ames. . He also directed the establishment of an innovation hub at Ames, a joint-venture with private companies drawing more than US$2 billion.

He is a board member of the California Council on Science and Technology since 2016 and is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. NASA Ames Honor Award for Outstanding Supervisor/Manager (2007) Chabot Space and Science Center Champion of Science (2019) Asian American Engineer of the Year, Chinese Institute of Engineers USA (2022)