KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Richard Grant is a magazine journalist, an author of non-fiction books and a documentary film writer. His last two books, Dispatches from Pluto and The Deepest South of All, were about Mississippi and both were New York Times bestsellers. His previous books include the adventure travel classic God’s Middle Finger, a Southwestern Book Award winner,and American Nomads, which was made into an acclaimed BBC documentary with Grant as the writer and host.

Currently a regular contributor at Smithsonian magazine, Grant has published journalism in Esquire, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and many other publications. Originally from London, England, he now a U.S. citizen. After living for several years in a remote farmhouse in the Mississippi Delta, an experience chronicled in the multi-award-winning Dispatches From Pluto, Grant is now living with his wife and daughter in Tucson, Arizona.

His newest book is an Arizona-centric memoir of his life, titled A Race to the Bottom of Crazy: Dispatches from Arizona.

 



Chris Cianciola
Deputy Program Manager
NASA’s Space Launch System

 

Chris Cianciola serves as the deputy manager of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. As a key member of the SLS leadership team, Cianciola shares responsibility for all facets of the SLS Program, including programmatic and technical planning, procurement, development, testing, evaluation, production, and operations.

A strategic national asset, SLS is returning astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis missions and can also launch large, strategic payloads to deep space. SLS successfully launched an uncrewed Orion spacecraft directly to the Moon as part of the successful Artemis I mission in November 2022.

Experience

With more than two decades of service to NASA, Cianciola has served in progressively responsible technical and management roles at Marshall. Prior to his assignment as SLS deputy program manager in 2018, Cianciola served as SLS Chief Safety Officer, responsible for managing and directing the safety program and mission and product assurance activities for the SLS Program.

 From 2015 to 2017, Cianciola served as the International Space Station Program Manager for Marshall Payload Operations, responsible for total cost, schedule, and technical implementation of ISS payload operations. Cianciola has also served in key positions in the space shuttle’s reusable solid rocket booster and external tank projects.

Awards

Cianciola is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Silver Achievement Medal, Exceptional Achievement Medal, Space Flight Honoree Award, Director’s Commendation, and Silver Snoopy.

Education

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Cianciola earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Mississippi and a master’s degree in administrative science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.