Space gig.

CU engineering dean gets job with NASA.

The dean of the University of Colorado’s College of Engineering and Applied Science — known for laying out the ambitious goal to become the first public engineering college to achieve gender parity — will step down in January to return to NASA.

Bobby Braun accepted a position with the executive leadership team of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CU announced Monday.

“The coming year is the right time for me to get back into my first true passion: aerospace,” Braun wrote in a letter to the college. “I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved together and remain excited about the future of the college and campus.”

Provost Russell Moore credited Braun — who began his CU role in 2017 — with the “growing success” of the college, pointing to the increase in diverse students, the growth in the size of the faculty and staff, and the college’s physical expansion on campus.

Since Braun’s first year as engineering dean, the college increased the number of first-year women students from 32% in fall 2016 to 45% in fall 2019. The number of underrepresented minorities increased during the same time frame from 16% to 25%, and first-generation students jumped from 16% to 20%.

“Whether by growing and diversifying our enrollment of talented students, launching a new aerospace building, or creating external partnerships for the campus, Bobby has been instrumental in strengthening our impact and reputation as a national leader in engineering,” Moore said in a news release.

Moore will name an interim dean soon and initiate a national search to fill Braun’s shoes.

For Braun, heading to NASA is like returning home.

The outgoing engineering dean has contributed to the formulation, development and operation of NASA missions for more than 30 years, according to a letter sent to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory team. He worked on the Mars Pathfinder flight project, served on several flight project review boards and worked as NASA’s chief technologist from 2010 to 2011, among other aerospace accolades.

“Over the past several months, I have conducted a national search for the right leader to carry forward implementation of our present planetary exploration missions and, in concert with the external community, plan the future of this enterprise which is critical to the lab, NASA and the nation,” wrote Michael Watkins, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a letter to staff. “I am very pleased to inform you that Dr. Bobby Braun will be joining the Laboratory Executive Leadership Team effective January 15, 2020, in this capacity.”