Allison A. Barto

Allison Barto is a director at Ball Aerospace, specializing in developing complex space systems from vision to orbit. She currently oversees Ball’s military weather programs, focused on building the Weather System Follow-On – Microwave vehicles for the US Space Force to address critical defense weather data gaps. Prior to her current position, Allison spent over two decades developing payloads for NASA, including 17 years in both technical and leadership roles for the James Webb Space Telescope at Ball Aerospace, where whe led the team responsible for delivery of the optics and electronics for the 22-foot-wide Telescope, as well as for the overall optical design, verification, and on-orbit optical phasing and commissioning of the Observatory. With experience building complex and audacious space assets, Allison continues to look to the future of space telescopes. She was part of NASA’s recent in-Space Assembled Telescope Study and is part of the follow-on SMART Think Tank on in-space servicing, manufacturing, and assembly, she served on a program panel for the National Academies Astro2020 decadal review process which establishes national priorities for astrophysics space missions and ground facilities, and she serves on the Management Advisory Committee for the European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope project. Allison is an SPIE Fellow and recipient of the Women in Aerospace Achievement Award.

When not building next generation space systems, Barto fuels her passion for STEM by participating in education outreach, promoting inquiry based learning, and educational equity and opportunity. Barto served as the co-lead of the Ball Corporation Women’s Resource Group from 2012-2018, supporting the corporation’s Diversity & Inclusion goals to support women at Ball and the next generation of female STEM professionals.