The Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP) announced that Mike Massimino, Ph.D., will headline the 2025 AMPP Annual Conference + Expo in Nashville. Massimino is a former NASA astronaut, New York Times best-selling author, and professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University.

Massimino’s keynote address, titled “The Team’s Success is Your Success: You Cannot Do This Alone, You Will Succeed or Fail as a Team,” will draw from his experiences as a NASA astronaut, an engineer, and a public figure. His insights will focus on the importance of teamwork, resilience, and innovation—principles that resonate deeply within the materials protection and performance industry.

His keynote will take place from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, April 7, at the Karl F. Deam Ballroom in the Music City Center.

In addition to his career at NASA, where he flew on two shuttle missions to service the Hubble Space Telescope, Massimino has held roles in academia and made numerous appearances on television, including the CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory.”

Currently, he teaches at Columbia University and serves as a senior advisor for space programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. Massimino’s best-selling book, “Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe,” chronicles his journey in space and his contributions to human space exploration.