Dr. Bryan W. McEnerney
NASA Technical Fellow for Materials
Dr. Bryan W. McEnerney joined the NASA Engineering and Safety Center in May 2023 as the NASA Technical Fellow for Materials. In this capacity, he leads a cross-agency Technical Discipline Team, leveraging expertise from within and outside of the Agency to solve high risk technical problems and foster a community of practice for the materials discipline.
He began his career as a member of the technical staff at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (now Aerojet Rocketdyne) in the Non-Metallic Materials Department. He supported a wide range of missions, including the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), J-2X, RS-68, as well as advanced development programs for missile defense, advanced propulsion systems, and terrestrial and space-based power systems. His primary technical interests were focused on advanced ceramics and ceramic-matrix-composites, as well as additive manufacturing.
In 2014, Dr. McEnerney moved to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he became the head of the Materials & Processes organization. In addition to managing the organization, he provided technical support to a variety of missions and systems, including the InSight Seismometer (SEIS), SWOT, NISAR, Sentinel-6, Mars 2020 (Perseverance), Mars Helicopter (Ingenuity), Europa Clipper, and Mars Sample Return. Further, he was the Materials & Processes lead for the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), hosted on the Mars 2020 spacecraft, which was the first additively manufactured hardware successfully landed on Mars. After stepping down as the head of Materials & Processes in 2021, he returned to the technical staff to focus on programmatic support of various tasks for JPL’s Office of the Chief Technologist, as well as leading technology
Throughout his career, he has focused on both flight project support, as well as technology development. At both Rocketdyne and JPL, he conducted research into advanced ceramics, coatings, and additive manufacturing processes, leading over $3M in funded efforts. From 2013 to 2020, he was a Lecturer in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, teaching both undergraduate and graduate division courses. Additionally, he holds 8 US Patents and is an author or co-author on numerous technical papers.
Bryan W. McEnerney holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Lehigh University, as well as a M.S. and Ph.D. in Ceramic and Materials Engineering from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.