Profile Details
Mr. Jeffrey Stys serves as interim head of the Systems Engineering, Integration and Test, and Operations (SEITO) Division at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). In this capacity, he is responsible for aligning engineering capabilities, staffing, and priorities to meet the evolving needs of the institute’s missions. These include the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Mr. Stys also currently serves as the lead of Engineering, Operations, and Technology for early engineering aspects of the concept development for the future Habitable Worlds Observatory. With a focus on maximizing scientific return, he works closely with mission offices, partner organizations, and leadership across STScI to ensure that complex systems are designed, verified, and operated with rigor and reliability.
Mr. Stys brings deep experience in on-board science instrument commanding and software development, with extensive experience supporting the James Webb Space Telescope. He contributed to the development and operation of flight commanding for Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and Fine Guidance System through the implementation of event-driven operations of the JWST Operations Scripts Subsystem. His contributions have spanned development, testing, commissioning, and sustained operations of the Webb mission.
Previously, Mr. Stys served as manager of the Commanding Development branch at STScI, leading teams responsible for mission-critical commanding software and operational products. He then transitioned to a project engineer role with direct accountability for the reliability, performance, and operational readiness of the subsystem.
Mr. Stys has worked at STScI since 2001, with the exception of 2012 to 2014, when he moved to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to work on the Helioviewer Project, an open-source effort jointly funded by NASA and ESA to enable interactive visualization of solar and heliospheric data. Over the course of his career at the institute, Mr. Stys has progressed through roles including data analyst, systems software engineer, branch manager, and principal project engineer, building a broad perspective that spans hands-on technical execution, operational leadership, and cross-mission systems engineering.
Education:
MS in Information and Telecommunication Systems, Johns Hopkins University
BS in Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor