Dave Lavery (born May 28, 1959) is an American scientist and roboticist who is the Program Executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters.

[1][2] He also is a member of the FIRST Executive Advisory Board, and is well-known among participants of the FIRST Robotics Competition as a mentor of Team 116.

With his eyesight being too poor to become an astronaut, he set about to use machines as his proxy for exploring the solar system.

Lavery led NASA's Telerobotics Technology Development Program, responsible for the direction and oversight of robotics and planetary exploration within the organization.

[1][3][4] Lavery currently works at the NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., as the program executive for solar system explorations.