Jennifer Lacey has been named the new associate director for the Core Science Systems Mission Area (CSS). She will begin acting in the position on October 6, ahead of her formal appointment on November 3.

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For the past four years, Lacey has served the Midcontinent Region, first as the deputy regional director and then, since 2023, as the regional director. In this role, she has led activities at six USGS water science centers and five ecosystem science centers across 11 states.

Lacey has been with the USGS since 1999. In 2003, she became the project manager of the NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Over her tenure at EROS and CSS, she has held other senior positions, including chief scientist for remote sensing and branch chief of the Observing Systems Branch. As branch chief, she was responsible for operations of the Landsat satellites, development of the ground system for future missions, international partnerships for satellite imagery, calibration and validation of satellite data, and the National Land Imaging Requirements effort. Lacey has also detailed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on the GOES-R mission.

In 2020, Lacey joined the Midcontinent Region as the deputy regional director for science. The following year, she served as the acting regional director for the Southwest Region. Upon returning to the Midcontinent Region in 2022, she assisted and acted in the regional director position before officially becoming regional director.

Lacey holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of South Dakota and has worked toward her doctorate in geospatial science and engineering at South Dakota State University.