Agenda

Mike Canga works in the Human Research Program at Johnson Space Center. Currently he is the team lead for the Program Science Management Office. He assumed this role after being the manager for the Exploration Medical Capabilities Element where he led the development medical system conceptual design and application of systems engineering practices to reduce medical risk presented to exploration missions. 

Prior to joining the Human Research Program, Canga was the risk manager for the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) from 2007 through its conclusion in 2011. He was responsible for establishing SSP Risk Management policy and maintaining the SSP risk baseline including Probabilistic Risk Assessment models for assessing technical risk.

Previously, Canga worked in NASA’s Independent Program Assessment Office (IPAO), providing risk management and risk assessment expertise to incorporate developments in risk assessment and management practice into IPAO assessments and products. He participated on IPAO teams conducting program and project assessments for a variety of programs and projects, including the Integrated Financial Management Program, Hubble Space Telescope Robotic Servicing Project, Living With a Star Program and X-37 Project.

Canga was the lead for Safety and Mission Assurance for the X-38 project. He was the Johnson resident Quality engineer for the refurbishment of Space Shuttles Endeavour and Columbia in Palmdale, California.

Canga received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Frank J. Groen

Deputy CHIEF, OFFICE OF sAFETY AND mISSION aSSURANCE 

Dr. Frank J. Groen is the deputy chief of NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA). He is responsible for executive leadership, policy direction, functional management and coordination for agencywide program and institutional Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) activities.

Before becoming the OSMA deputy chief, Groen was the director of the Safety and Assurance Requirements Division within OSMA, responsible for the development and maintenance of NASA directives and standards pertaining to SMA, as well as related methods, tools and guidance.

Groen worked in OSMA as the manager for Reliability and Maintainability (R&M), and also served as the document manager for NASA’s Human Rating Directive and program executive for NASA’s Expendable Launch Vehicle Payload Safety Program. During this period, he introduced the safety goal policy for human spaceflight missions to the Human-Rating Directive, oversaw the development of an accident precursor analysis methodology for NASA and initiated an objectives-driven approach for the standardization of R&M activities.

Groen also served a detail as the acting deputy associate administrator for Integration, Strategy and Transformation for the NASA Mission Support Directorate and returned in April 2025 to resume his current role as deputy chief of OSMA.

Before joining NASA, Groen was active in academia and industry, where he focused on method and tool development in the field of reliability and risk assessment, with a focus on Bayesian data analysis, accident scenario modeling and analysis, and Monte Carlo simulation.

He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in reliability engineering from the University of Maryland in 2000 and a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.