Ceremony to honor Hunter’s work with NASA

Published 5:00 pm Monday, March 14, 2022

MOULTRIE, Ga. – Roger Hunter has been named to receive the Colquitt County Career Achievement Award on March 22.

Hunter was born in Moultrie on April 26, 1956. His parents were Guy L. and Bessie Lairsey Hunter. He attended Culbertson Elementary School, Moultrie Junior High School, and Moultrie High School graduating in 1974. He was awarded a scholarship to attend the University of Georgia, and in 1978 he graduated with a degree in mathematics. As an officer in the Air Force he earned master’s degrees from the following: The U. S. Air Force Institute of Technology, the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College, and the U. S. Air Force War College.

He has had over 40 years experience in the U.S. Department of Defense and in the field of commercial and government space missions. He currently serves as program manager for NASA Small Spacecraft Technology. The small spacecraft approach has been called a paradigm shift for NASA and the larger space community. Previously he served for over six years as the program manager for the NASA Kepler Mission. The Kepler Mission’s principal scientific objective has been to determine the frequency of Earth-size planets, in the habitable zone, of other stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

His career took him for a time to the private side, and, while working in the commercial space industry, he served as program manager for the Boeing Corporation’s Global Positioning System Sustainment activities for the U.S. Air Force.

In his significant career as an Air Force officer he had assignment as program manager for several space programs. Colonel Hunter served as squadron commander and a deputy operations group commander within the U.S. Air Force 50th Space Wing. Other U.S. Air Force tours of duty included assignments with the Headquarters U.S. Air Force at the Pentagon; Headquarters U.S. Air Force Space Command; and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. 

During his career he has lectured at numerous institutions of higher learning including the following: the University of Georgia, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the University of Naples Federico II in Naples, Italy, The University of Florence in Florence, Italy, and the India Institute of Technology in Guwahati India. He lectured at the Rolls Royce HQ in Derby, England. He has been the keynote speaker at a number of science and engineering related conferences and symposia and he has served as the Commencement Speaker twice for University of Georgia graduation ceremonies. 

Hunter is a TEDx alumnus and speaker. He maintains and holds a Program Management Certification from NASA. He has been awarded the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and has received numerous awards and decorations recognizing mission accomplishments for NASA. He was recognized in multiple ways also for achievements during his Air Force career. 

Hunter has remained close in many ways to the University of Georgia. He returns often to mentor and encourage students studying in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). He has established at the University endowments for the Roger C. Hunter Scholarships for Future Scientists and the Roger C. Hunter Distinguished Professorship in the Sciences.