Career Achievement in Government

Donald J. Campbell
Center Director
NASA John H. Glenn Research Center

By Garland L. Thompson

Donald J. Campbell works on the cutting edge of dreams. As director of NASA Glenn Research Center, he oversaw the teams that developed the solar "wings" power systems for the Freedom Space Station as well as rocket propulsion systems, experiments, and many other things.

In his 40-year career, Campbell has played a consistent, critical role in developing new technologies, then turning them into products that moved the aerospace industry forward.

He started as a gas turbine test engineer at famed Wright Patterson Air Force Base, in 1960, dreaming of the conquest of space. He had wondered why humanity couldn't accomplish the wonders fictional space heroes found so easy. In many ways, his career has answered that question, as he has helped humankind go from the early, lumbering jet planes to Saturn V trips to the Moon. Today, he's directly involved in new space exploration.

Campbell, since 1994 NASA's only African-American center director, oversees a broad gauntlet of high-tech developments, from fuel cell and rocket engine research to products that might show up in you next car. An Ohio Northern University mechanical engineer and master's degree holder from Ohio State, he completed Carnegie Mellon's Senior Executive Seminar as well as the Executive Leadership program at the Federal Executive Institute. He also has studied at the Brookings Institute and the Defense Systems Management School and has honorary doctorates from Ohio Northern and Wilberforce Universities. 

That high-level education gets a workout, running a facility with 2,100 civil servants and 1,500 on-site contractors and managing a $600-million annual budget.

Campbell, who worked for the Pentagon before joining NASA, developed new gas turbine engines for the Air Force and Navy, led research on ramjets and power systems for the National Aerospace Plane project, and developed microgravity experiments planned for the space station.

In his spare time, he helps young people build new dreams. His Cuyahoga Community College Science/Engineering/Math and Aerospace Academy has helped 7,000 K-12 students strengthen their backgrounds in math and science, and the Mobile Aeronautics Education Laboratory he developed is a state-of-the-art classroom trailer using cutting-edge technologies to teach math and science to students in grades 9-12. These programs have been copied across the nation. Dreams? He's got lots of 'em.

Garland L. Thompson is assistant managing editor of The Philadelphia Tribune and a member of the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Selection Panel. He can be reached at GThompson@ccgmag.com.