University of California, Berkeley announced Wednesday it has appointed a new leader to helm the Berkeley Space Center at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View.
Victoria Coleman was tapped to lead the university’s new research and innovation hub as associate provost for the center.
She replaces Alex Bayen, the center’s first chief whose team spent nearly five years working with NASA and private developer SKS Partners on plans to get the Space Center off the ground, UC Berkeley officials said.
Coleman is former chief scientist for the U.S. Air Force and former head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. She was also appointed as a professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences.
She is currently the head of aerospace manufacturer Airbus’ Silicon Valley innovation center and will start her new job this month, according to university officials.
Construction on the $2 billion, 36-acre Berkeley Space Center at Moffett Field is expected to start in 2026 and will feature 1.4 million square feet of Class-A and R&D space, a conference center, academic facilities and retail shops, along with roughly 18 acres of open space and student and faculty housing, officials said when announcing the new center in 2023.
“I see immense opportunity at the Berkeley Space Center to unite the campus community working on space and discovery with innovators pursuing advanced aviation and autonomous transportation,” Coleman said. “Together, we can create a vibrant ecosystem where fundamental curiosity meets innovation in the national interest, ensuring that our work has impact from the lab bench to orbit and beyond.”
Coleman is expected to work with UC Berkeley faculty to ensure the “center’s tenants have interests that dovetail with those of campus researchers and students, including in the newly established aerospace engineering program in the College of Engineering,” according to university officials.
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