Jeff Wisoff

Peter J. K. (Jeff) Wisoff oversees a focused, multidisciplinary team charged not only for safely operating the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in support of the National Nuclear Security Administration's stockpile stewardship mission but also for developing advanced lasers and related optical, target and diagnostic systems to provide national security solutions.

Earlier in his career, Wisoff served on the Rice University faculty and was selected by NASA to be an astronaut. A veteran of four space shuttle flights, Wisoff conducted three spacewalks, totaling almost 20 hours, to evaluate tools for the first Hubble Telescope repair mission, construct the International Space Station and test fly an astronaut jet pack. He received the 2001 NASA Distinguished Service Medal and four NASA Space Flight Medals. As a National Science Foundation graduate fellow at the University of Virginia, Wisoff worked on the development of short wavelength lasers. Prior to leading NIF and Photon Science, Wisoff held other leadership roles within the directorate.

Wisoff has a Ph.D. and M.S. in applied physics from Stanford University and a B.S. in physics from the University of Virginia.