Donna L. Shirley

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of Oklahoma

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Donna L. Shirley is a pioneering aerospace engineer and manager best known for her visionary leadership in Mars exploration. Her key research areas include planetary robotics, Mars mission architecture, and creative engineering education. As the first manager of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she spearheaded the strategic shift toward frequent, lower-cost robotic missions, including the groundbreaking Mars Pathfinder and the long-running Mars Surveyor Program. Her work directly enabled the development of the first generation of Mars rovers, from Sojourner to the more advanced vehicles that followed, fundamentally shaping how we explore the Red Planet. With papers like “The Mars Exploration Program” (1997, 8 citations) and “Mars Rovers: Past, Present and Future” (1997, 5 citations), she documented the technical and programmatic foundations of modern planetary exploration. Beyond engineering, Shirley has championed creativity in STEM through her course “Managing Creativity,” which teaches the end-to-end engineering process to students and professionals. Her legacy as a trailblazer—both in space exploration and in fostering innovative engineering education—continues to inspire new generations of scientists and engineers.