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Christopher Koehler is a new lecturer in the Ann and H.J Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, but he is no stranger to CU Boulder.

Prior to joining Smead Aerospace, he served as the longtime director of NASA's Colorado Space Grant Consortium, located on campus, and has taught courses in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

This year, he stepped back from Space Grant and is taking an official role in Smead Aerospace as the Graduate Projects Coordinator and he will be teaching Pathway to Space in the spring.

Chris has been teaching Pathway to Space since 2017 and taught Gateway to Space from 2000 to 2019.��

He earned his BS in Aerospace Engineering in 1992 and his MS in Mechanical Engineering in 1994, both from CU Boulder.

Chris joined CU Boulder in 2000 after working at Lockheed Martin from 1995 – 2000.�� He was Deputy Director for NASA’s Colorado Space Grant Consortium from 2000 – 2004 and Director from 2004 – 2021.��

Chris is passionate about providing real-world, hands-on, authentic, flight experiences for students. He led the development of high-altitude balloon and sounding rocket programs for college level students.

Engaging education is a priority to Chris and demonstrated that in the development of the Gateway to Space and Pathway to Space courses on this campus.��

His pedagogy is about breaking the mold on how to engage a student in the classroom and employs many unique ways to accomplish this. He loves to “see the lights come on in a student’s eyes. That moment when they connect the dots and perceive a whole future for themselves.”