Jenny Gruber (ENG’99,’99)

Jenny Gruber was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering in 1999. During her time at BU, she was an intern at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. In 2002, she earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Science from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

After returning to Johnson Space Center in 2002, Jenny spent 16 years in the Flight Operations Directorate, first as a Flight Dynamics Officer in Space Shuttle Mission Control, and then as a manager for two Space Station Mission Control Groups—Mission Planning Software and the Inventory and Stowage Officers. In 2018, Jenny left Flight Operations to work on the Artemis Campaign, which aims to return humans to the moon–this time to stay and prepare for human exploration of Mars. She currently serves as the Chief of the Programmatics and Operations Branch, whose members contribute to systems engineering and integration for the Moon to Mars Program Office.

Jenny is wife to a fellow NASA engineer and mom to a teenager. She enjoys serving her community and church, distance running, travel, outdoor activities, mentoring, and learning about Ethiopian history, language, and culture.