headshot placeholder

Dana Bolles

External Information Technology Lead

NASA

In February 2019, Dana began her time at NASA HQ on a detail that led to a permanent transfer. She works in the Science Engagement & Partnerships Division of the Science Mission Directorate (SMD). During her detail, she built an internal toolkit (website) on the Exploration of Life beyond Earth and led a team of astrobiologists to develop a tool to help NASA better prepare the public for an eventual announcement of finding life. In 2020, she began managing the day-to-day activities for the science.nasa.gov website and in 2021, she was added to the team leading the SMD Web Modernization effort. Prior to HQ, Dana worked the majority of her NASA career at the Ames Research Center. Her last organization was the Flight Systems Implementation Branch, where she was the International Space Station (ISS) Payload Logistics Lead for 3 years, leading the logistics team in providing services to all of the bioscience payloads sent up to ISS. For 6 years prior, she worked in the Human Research Program as the programmatic Risk Manager, Data Accessibility Lead, and in Process and Information Management. Her first role at Ames was as an environmental compliance specialist, managing the Center’s largest programs in air quality, industrial wastewater discharge, and hazardous material storage. She held this role for 8-1/2 years. Dana transferred to Ames after working a short 1-1/2 years at the Goddard Space Flight Center, but her NASA career began at the Kennedy Space Center as a flight systems safety engineer, where she remained for almost 3 years. Dana earned a Master’s Certificate in Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology at San Francisco State University and before that, a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Long Beach.