Michael M. Watkins is an American engineer, scientist, and a Professor of Aerospace and Geophysics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

He also led NASA development and review teams for the Cassini, Mars Odyssey and Deep Impact robotic space missions.

He was an originator of the concept for the GRACE mission, which uses a pair of Earth-orbiting satellites to make detailed measurements of Earth's gravity field anomalies.

In addition, he has been a pioneer in the development and use of gravity data for new science applications to better understand Earth's climate and its evolution.

In addition, he has taught estimation, filtering theory and system engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and at Caltech.