Shannon Zelinski

Center: NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)

Division: Aviation Systems Division

Branch: Flight Trajectory Dynamics and Controls Branch

Professional Biography

Shannon Zelinski began her career with NASA in the Aviation Systems Division in 2003. Since then, she has published over 20 papers in the field of air traffic management. She started as a research scientist in the field of system modeling and assessment working with the Airspace Concept Evaluation System in its infancy. Ms. Zelinski led NextGen Concept and Technology Development project research in Dynamic Airspace Configuration from 2007 to 2011 and Super Density Operations focused on terminal area arrival and departure management from 2011 to 2014. She spent the next few years leading fast-time systems analysis for the Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 sub-project focused on maturing and demonstrating departure scheduling technologies.

Ms. Zelinski was also part of the core formulation team for the Air Traffic Management Exploration (ATM-X) project focused on enabling airspace access for all users, vehicles, and missions in a safe, efficient, and equitable manner. As ATM-X formulation transitioned to execution, she served as the acting tech lead for the Increasing Diverse Operations sub-project, which focuses on defining the beyond NextGen system concept and service-based architecture for traditional operations that will facilitate integration of new types of airspace users. From 2018 through 2023 she served as the Aerospace High Density Operations Branch Chief in the Aviation Systems Division. In 2024 she returned to her roots in the field of system modeling and assessment working with the National Airspace Systems (NAS) Digital Twin as a senior researcher and leadership team member.