Nipa is the Procurement Officer at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt MD.

Prior to her appointment to this role, she had been serving in a detail as the Deputy Center Director for Technology and Research Investments (Acting) for the last 8 months, responsible for managing the Center’s research and development portfolio. This role entailed stewarding the formulation the Center’s future science, mission and technology goals and leading an integrated program of investments and partnerships to achieve strategic objectives.

Nipa served as the Deputy Director for Acquisitions of the GSFC Office of Procurement (OP) beginning in April 2023.  In this role, she shared the responsibility of managing the organization and was responsible for planning and execution of all Goddard procurements with accountability for a range of multi-program and institutional activities, such as source selections, sole source procurements, contract negotiation and administration, construction of facilities, contract closeout and termination, and activities that include administration of both small and minority business programs, contract reviews, cost analysis and cooperative agreements.  

Prior to her selection as the GSFC Deputy Procurement Officer, Nipa spent 10 years at Associate Chief leading the Earth Science procurement portfolio in the Office of Procurement, supporting the Earth Science Division, the Computational and Information Sciences and Technology Office, the Earth Science Projects Division, Earth Science Technology Office. During her final year in this role, Nipa also supported the Planetary Science Projects Division. 

She has supported the OP enterprise in multiple capacities, including serving on the MAP People Team and the Acquisition Portfolio Assessment Team. She was also recently named as the Executive Champion for Goddard’s Women’s Employee Resource Group and Network.

Nipa started her federal career in 1995 at the Defense Logistics Agency as a Contract Specialist and spent three years at Arthur Andersen’s Office of Government Services. She moved to NASA GSFC in 2002 and has remained at NASA since that time.  During her tenure at Goddard, Nipa has served every directorate of the Center, as well as IV&V, GISS and Wallops Flight Facility as Contracting Officer, branch head, procurement policy analyst and division management in OP. 

Nipa is the recipient of several individual and group NASA Honor and Robert H. Goddard Honor Awards and is most proud of receiving the NASA Leadership Medal in 2016.