Dr. Michael Nayak is the Chief Technology Officer of the XPRIZE Foundation, and Executive Vice President of the Deep Tech + Exploration Domain. He is a scientist, engineer, pilot, entrepreneur, author and technology leader. He brings government, national laboratory, military, defense, and venture capital advisory experience to his roles at XPRIZE.

Prior to joining XPRIZE, Michael was a Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he ideated, created and directed a $700M+portfolio of nearly two dozen programs at all Technology Readiness Levels. At DARPA, he founded the Department of Defense’s first- and second-ever lunar research programs, ran the Agency’s first Very Low Earth Orbit satellite program, and scaled a program to $6.6B in follow-on funding.

Michael has worked for seven years across three NASA centers, including on the space shuttle; flight director for multiple experimental spacecraft; instructor flight test engineer and instructor pilot; led a scientific field expedition to the South Pole as a US Antarctic Program Principal Investigator, and has overseen all research activity at the Department of Defense’s largest telescope facility. He has won numerous awards for his technology leadership, including the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement and the American Astronautical Society’s Industrial Leadership Award. He is a graduate of the prestigious US Air Force Test Pilot School, two-time NASA Astronaut semifinalist, two-time published science-fiction novelist, and has 1,500+ hours of flight time in 40+ aircraft including the F-16, T-38 and EA500.

At XPRIZE, Michael is driven to apply his diverse training in technology rigor and disruption to create and execute prizes that chart a course toward a more equitable future for all. He is enthusiastic about lowering barriers to entry, fostering communities of innovators and increasing innovation, by leveraging new discoveries in space, AI, robotics, nanotechnology, quantum, biotech and more.

Michael holds an undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering, Masters’ degrees in Earth Science, Aerospace Engineering and Flight Test Engineering, and a PhD in Earth and Planetary Science from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He was a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow for his doctoral work.