Shari Feth, PhD

Dr. Shari Feth has a broad technical background with over 30 years of experience spanning systems engineering from fundamental research & development to test and fielding. Her experience includes materials science, electro-magnetics, sensors and missile defense systems. She has been with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for over 13 years. Prior to that, she worked in the NASA Space Architects Office and conducted fundamental scientific research at Marshall Space Flight Center. She is currently the Director, Science and Technology at MDA in Huntsville where she is responsible for the science and technology efforts across the Agency and the strategic alignment of those efforts with Department of Defense priorities. Previously she was the Deputy Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) Architect where she was responsible for analysis, guidance and planning of future missile defense capability and the Chief Engineer for the Sensors Directorate where she was responsible for engineering MDA’s radars. She also held positions as the Chief Systems Engineer of the Sensor’s Directorate, the Sensors Engineering Functional Lead and a Test Mission Manager. Dr. Feth’s earlier career included positions on a Systems Engineering Tiger Team working initial development, trade studies and requirements definition for future NASA manned and cargo vehicles, and as a research scientist for semiconductor material development. Prior to completing her Ph.D. she worked at Idaho National Engineering Labs (INEL) and Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL) in optical sensing and crystal growth, respectively. She conducted fundamental research in materials engineering, semiconductor crystal growth, in-situ monitoring, optics, non-destructive testing, and fiber optics. She received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VA Tech) and completed her education with a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from VA Tech in 1996.