Acting Technical Center Director, Safety Management and Human Factors

Kelly Curran is currently the acting technical center director for Safety Management and Human Factors at the U.S. DOT Volpe Center. She was formerly the Chief of the Aviation Systems Engineering division and has 24 years’ experience in the U.S. government and in aviation. Curran led a team of engineers and analysts supporting a variety of government organizations including NASA, FAA, and Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The Aviation Systems Engineering Division has expertise in end-to-end engineering for new and modernizing systems, safety risk management, and business case/needs analysis for new programs and technologies. Prior to her current role, she was a project manager in the Aviation Safety Management Systems Division where she supported FAA’s Flight Standards on the System Approach for Safety Oversight (SASO) as well as work with FAA’s Office of Commercial Space and Office of Accident Investigation and Prevention. Curran is also the management lead on the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s Software Continuous Improvement Program (SCIP), which maintains the organization’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Maturity Level 3, and she is a liaison for the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Coordination Team.

Before joining the U.S. DOT Volpe Center in 2014, Curran was a contractor supporting the U.S. Coast Guard in operational requirements analysis. She served in the U.S. Navy as an Aircraft Commander/Pilot of the P-3 Orion as well as having flown the Beechcraft King Air, U/VH-3 Sea King and SH-60B Sea Hawk helicopters. Curran is currently on the advisory board of the Boston Chapter of Women in Aviation. She obtained her Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Massachusetts and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Naval Academy.