Innovation & Opportunity
Virtual Conference
October 20-22, 2020
Propelling your business. Transitioning your technology.
Brought to you by the NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, this conference provides you with resources, engagement opportunities, and actionable next steps towards transitioning your technology – whether you are just starting your SBIR/STTR journey or ready for a Phase III.
Transition (verb)
To move your technology towards integration into a NASA or other government agency mission and/or the commercial market.

Whether your destination is the Moon, Mars, or the Marketplace – let us help you get there.
Meet our Speakers
This virtual conference gathers a diverse group of speakers from NASA.
Read their bios and check back as we continue to add more speakers!
Jim Bridenstine
NASA Administrator

Jim Bridenstine

NASA Administrator
Jim Bridenstine was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 13th Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. As administrator, he has led NASA in advancing American aeronautic, science, and space exploration objectives since April 23, 2018.

Under Bridenstine’s leadership, NASA launched its new human lunar exploration mission, the Artemis program. As announced by Vice President Mike Pence in March 2019, the Artemis program will land the first woman and the next man on the surface of the Moon by 2024, the first human landing since the end of NASA’s Apollo missions in 1972. Through the Artemis program, NASA is developing the Orion crew capsule and the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket ever built. These state-of-the-art systems will help build the Gateway, a lunar orbiting space station that will give American astronauts more access to the surface of the Moon than ever before. As directed by President Trump, all lunar exploration efforts under Artemis are designed to prove our technology and perfect our capabilities to live and work on a different world in preparation for a future crewed mission to Mars.

Bridenstine has managed the continued commercial resupply of the International Space Station and has led agency efforts to partner with American businesses on the Commercial Crew Program. This program seeks to once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, something not done since the end of the Shuttle program in 2011. Additionally, Bridenstine established the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program to partner with private enterprise in landing rovers on the lunar surface. These rovers will contain tools and science experiments in preparation for the arrival of American astronauts.

During Bridenstine’s tenure, the agency has reinforced aeronautic development of the X-59, a quiet supersonic aircraft, and the X-57, the agency’s first all-electric airplane. He has also backed NASA’s aeronautical innovators to develop the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management to facilitate the safe use of drones for commercial enterprise and in everyday life. The agency’s dynamic science portfolio under Bridenstine includes a life-seeking Mars rover scheduled to launch in July 2020, enhancing the nation’s fleet of Earth-observing satellites and final preparations of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Prior to serving at NASA, Bridenstine was elected in 2012 to represent Oklahoma’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served on the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Bridenstine’s career in federal service began in 1998 as a pilot in the U.S. Navy, flying the E-2C Hawkeye off the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. It was there that he flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and accrued most of his 1,900 flight hours and 333 arrested landings on an aircraft carrier. He later moved to the F-18 Hornet and flew at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center, the parent command to TOPGUN.

After transitioning from active duty to the U.S. Navy Reserve, Bridenstine returned to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to be the executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium.

Bridenstine completed a triple major at Rice University and earned his MBA at Cornell University. He and his wife, Michelle, have three children.
Jenn Gustetic
NASA SBIR/STTR Program Executive

Jenn Gustetic

NASA SBIR/STTR Program Executive
Jenn Gustetic is the Program Executive for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR/STTR) at NASA Headquarters.

Gustetic worked at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2014-2016 as the Assistant Director for Open Innovation where she was responsible for scaling the use of open innovation approaches like prizes, crowdsourcing, and citizen science across the Federal Government. Among other accomplishments, in this role she co-founded GSA’s citizenscience.gov program and oversaw a cumulative doubling of the use of incentive prizes government-wide (from 350 total prizes conducted from 2010-2014 to 700 total prizes from 2010-2016).

This White House role built on her previous experience as NASA’s Prizes and Challenges Program Executive where she served as NASA’s principle advocate, advisor and strategist for open innovation methods. Gustetic has consulted several Federal Government agencies on open government issues such as the Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Housing and Urban Development as the Associate Director for Strategic Engagement and Communications at Phase One Consulting Group. She also served as a Federal employee at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as the senior program analyst for $400 million in annual transportation security grant programs.

Gustetic holds a bachelors degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in technology policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
James Reuter
NASA STMD Associate Administrator

James Reuter

NASA STMD Associate Administrator
James L. Reuter was named NASA’s associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters in June 2019, a position in which he served in an acting capacity since February 2017. In this role, he provides executive leadership and management of the technology programs within STMD, with an annual investment value of $1.1 billion.

Reuter was the deputy associate administrator of STMD from February 2017-February 2018. Prior to this role, Reuter served as the senior executive for technical integration in the Center Director’s Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center from 2009-2015, providing strategic leadership on critical technology and integration activities. Additionally, Reuter served as the Exploration Systems Division (ESD) Standing Review Board chair, responsible for overseeing development activities of the Space Launch System, Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, Ground Systems Development and Operations Programs, and the ESD integration activities.

Previously, Reuter served in many managerial roles at Marshall including Ares vehicle integration manager in the Constellation program, the deputy manager of Space Shuttle Propulsion Office, and the deputy manager of Space Shuttle External Tank Project Office during the shuttle return-to-flight activities. In 2002, he was assigned to a detail at NASA Headquarters as the deputy associate director in the Space Transportation Technology Division in the Office of Aerospace Technology. From 1994 to 2001, he was the Environmental Control and Life Support System manager for the International Space Station at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Reuter began his NASA career in 1983 as an aerospace engineer in the Structures and Propulsion Laboratory in Marshall’s Science and Engineering Directorate.

Reuter has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He has received numerous NASA awards and honors, including a 2019 Distinguished Service Medal, 2016 Outstanding Leadership Medal, 2013 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, a 2008 NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, a 2002 NASA Exceptional Service Medal, a 1998 Silver Snoopy Award and a 1993 Space Station Award of Merit.
Gynelle Steele
NASA SBIR/STTR Deputy Program Executive

Gynelle Steele

NASA SBIR/STTR Deputy Program Executive
Gynelle Steele is the acting Program Executive for NASA SBIR and STTR Programs.

Steele previously managed the Glenn Research Center SBIR/STTR Program Office and was the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Liaison. Prior to serving as Glenn's SBIR/STTR Program Manager, Steele was an engineer in the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) serving as the Center Software Release Authority where she led the design and implementation of the Agency's software repository and designed and managed the Glenn Garrett Morgan Commercialization Initiative (GMCI) which was the Agency's only program focusing exclusively on transferring technology to small disadvantaged businesses.

Steele has received multiple awards including the ARMD Associate Administrator's Program and Mission Support Award, the Office of Small Business Programs Technical Person of the Year award, the NASA Medal for Exceptional Service, and the National Women of Color award.

She holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Ohio University and a MBA from Cleveland State University.
Access our Resource Library
We’ve made it easy for you by creating a curated resource library based on where you are in your SBIR/STTR journey. Access the library to see relevant information for Phase 0, Phase 1, and Phase 2 and beyond! We recommend reviewing these resources in advance of the engagement sessions to get the most out of the event.

View Resource Library
Agenda
Day 1 and Day 2 will include 4+ hours of live engagement sessions, streamed content, and networking each day, plus suggested additional independent time to peruse the Resource Library. Day 3 will include one-on-one sessions, partner programming, and independent time to digest the information from the event and plot out your next course of action. Check back for regular updates to the agenda! 
phase 0 thumbnail image Preparing for a Phase 1 submission to increase likelihood of award
phase 1 thumbnail image Making the most of your Phase 1 experience
phase 2 thumbnail image Leveraging opportunities and making connections
Explore the Agenda
One-on-Ones
These coveted one-on-one sessions provide you with the opportunity to have a 15-minute discussion directly with a NASA representative.

One-on-ones are now fully booked.
one-on-one lady iconchat iconone-on-one guy icon
Featured NASA programs: SBIR/STTR * Tipping Point * Game-Changing Development * NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts * Technology Transfer * Prizes & Challenges * Centennial Challenges * Flight Opportunities * Small Spacecraft Technology Program * Office of Small Business Programs
Join our Community
Stay connected to learn more about latest news, opportunities, events, and more!

Success Stories
You can be one of the many success stories from the NASA SBIR/STTR program.
Phase 1 is just the beginning of a long and fruitful journey with NASA! View more stories
Virginia Diodes, Inc. received NASA SBIR Awards to fund research and development for a lesser developed region of the electromagnetic spectrum—terahertz waves.
The first company to successfully manufacture in space, Made In Space is partnering with NASA to bring 3-D printing and plastics reuse and recycling to the International Space Station.
IAI’s MetroSim optimizes air traffic by simulating departures, arrivals, and activity in air and on the ground in busy metroplexes, where flights impact each other at a single airport and among traffic at nearby airports.
An innovative water recycling process that leverages novel microorganisms to provide cost-effective, closed-loop water purification on the International Space Station (ISS) and on Earth.