Letter From CASIS To NASA Regarding A Change in Principal Investigator
February 14, 2018
Ms. Miyoshi Thompson
CASIS Cooperative Agreement Contracting Officer
2101 NASA Parkway
International Space Station
Mail Code: BG (Bldg 4S/Room 4307)
Houston, TX 77058
Re: Cooperative Agreement No. NNH11CD70A, Change in Principal Investigator
Dear Ms. Thompson:
The Center for Advancement of Science in Space (“CASIS”) hereby notifies you, pursuant to Section 4.6 of the above-referenced Cooperative Agreement, of a change in the Executive Director / Principal Investigator position. Col. Gregory H. Johnson, the current Executive Director and Principal Investigator, will be leaving CASIS effective March 10, 2018.
Lieutenant General James A. Abrahamson, the incumbent Chairman of the CASIS Board of Directors, will assume the position of Interim Executive Director effective March 11, 2018, until a replacement Executive Director is hired, and will serve as the Principal Investigator during that period of time. He will also remain the Chairman of the Board.
Please note that the OCI Mitigation Plan in the Cooperative Agreement provides that the Executive Director has the authority to make selection and prioritization decisions concerning the use of the ISS NL and award of CASIS grants, but excludes Board members from making such recommendations or decisions. See Attachment 2, Sec. II.C. The reason for this exclusion is concern that Board members may have affiliations with entities that seek to use the ISS NL, receive grant funding from CASIS, or otherwise have financial interests in users of the ISS NL. Id. Sec. I.A. As the Director of Administration, I have determined that no conflict issues are posed by Gen. Abrahamson serving as the Board Chairman while making selection and prioritization decisions, because he does not have any such affiliations that could cause OCI concerns. I will be receiving monthly updates from Gen. Abrahamson concerning any change in affiliations to determine if there are any OCI concerns that may require mitigation.
We ask that you provide your approval to this change in Principal Investigator.
Regards,
Jorge Fernandez
Chief of Staff, CFO, and Director of Administration
cc: Sam Scimemi, NASA
Missy Gard, NASA
Greg Johnson, CASIS
James A. Abrahamson, CASIS
