Lisa Alcindor, PhD candidate
Lisa Alcindor, PhD candidate, known professionally as “TheLandstronaut,” is an economist, aerospace program and quality-assurance professional, and space-economy advocate. She is the founder and president of Landstronaut®, a U.S.-based venture she created to promote human performance, survivability, and workforce development across “Land to Space” development. A 2022 Project Management Institute Future 50 honoree, Lisa focuses on the space economy, infrastructure resilience, and broadening participation in the global space workforce.
Through Landstronaut, Lisa advocates for women in space and a more inclusive vision of who can pursue spaceflight, framing her mission as “creating a space in Space” through human performance and survivability. The venture anchors several initiatives she has launched, including the Global Space Workforce Development Association and the Global Space League, both aimed at building a more globally representative space workforce through education and partnerships.
She describes herself as an aspiring astronaut, having designed her own training regimen — including flight lessons toward a pilot’s license and SCUBA certification — and, in 2019, applying to the inaugural Citizen Astronaut Program run by the nonprofit Space for Humanity, where she reached the program’s second round. Her public campaign to broaden who is seen as an astronaut has been profiled in national media, including Meet The Black Woman Looking to Change What People Think an Astronaut Looks Like in Black Enterprise.
Lisa’s work in aerospace began after she earned an economics degree and joined the U.S. Defense Contract Management Agency, the Department of Defense component that administers contracts for the DoD and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
In that capacity, she worked in quality assurance and program monitoring on major aerospace programs, helping inspect satellites and rockets; early in her career she supported program and quality tracking for the James Webb Space Telescope. The Project Management Institute listed her role at the time of her 2022 recognition as Program Element Monitor for U.S. Air Force Space. Additionally, she held program-quality and portfolio roles associated with NASA and the U.S. Air Force, including support to Space Launch System (RS-25 and RS-68) engine programs.
More recently, Lisa has moved into advisory and governance roles in finance and infrastructure. She is Chair of the Board of the Global Resilience Infrastructure Fund, a strategic advisor to NexusNode Family Office, and a senior business advisor to Heritage Origen Fund. She also holds an honorary “Senator” designation with the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF), a private angel-investment network — a title conferred within that organization rather than an elected public office.
Lisa earned her Bachelor of Science in Economics from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically Black university in Tallahassee, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in 2011. She is a doctoral candidate in Portfolio and Project Management at National University, and she completed Level III Defense Acquisition certification, joining the Defense Acquisition Corps in 2016.
A frequent public speaker on the space economy, women in space, and global space-workforce development, Lisa delivers talks and keynotes through speaking programs she has branded HPSS (Human Performance and Survivability in Space) and SITED (Space, Innovation, Technology, and Economic Development). She was recognized in the North America cohort of the Project Management Institute’s 2022 Future 50 and maintains affiliations with organizations including the Space Force Association and her alma mater’s Florida A&M University network.
Visit her LinkedIn profile and personal website, explore the Landstronaut homepage, and read her Project Management Institute Future 50 honoree profile.