In Memory of Steven M. Green, June 3, 1962 - August 31, 2013
In August 2013, the Aviation Systems Division sadly lost one of its founding members, Steve Green, who was 51. Steve joined the NASA family in 1985, after having graduated from the University of California at Davis with a Bachelors Degree in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering. He was recruited to join a small project in aircraft trajectory prediction and he went on to complete a Masters Degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. Steve soon became a seminal figure in developing NASA's reputation as the world's preeminent air traffic management research organization. As one of the four inventors of the Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS), Steve developed and validated the En-route Descent Advisor automation tool that will begin national deployment in 2014. He pioneered the integration of airborne flight management systems with ground-based automation for air traffic management, and led the first-ever CTAS field trials in which clearance advisories were issued to, and executed by, actual passenger flights. Steve was an incredibly talented researcher with an exceptional grasp of the complex field of air traffic management, and generously shared his valuable expertise with his many friends and colleagues throughout NASA and the air traffic management community in industry, academia, and other government agencies in the US and abroad. Steve chaired several national and international technical committees on air traffic management research and technologies and authored or co-authored more than 50 technical publications, including contributions to two books, held two patents on advanced air traffic technologies with a third pending, and was an Associate Fellow of the AIAA. In 1999, Steve was named the Engineer of the Year by the AIAA San Francisco Section. He received numerous NASA awards and honors, including the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal and the NASA “Turning Goals into Reality” Award. Steve is survived by his mother, two sisters, one brother, his former wife, and his beloved twins, seven-year-old Marcus and Savannah. A Celebration of Life was held for Steve on September 6 at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose, California. We all miss Steve very much and are so grateful for his contributions and tremendous friendship and support.
