Named in honor of Ernest Cisneros (b. 1964), one of the unsung heroes of planetary science. Cisneros began his career as a field geologist but has turned his energies to computer system management, software development, networking and data processing. Throughout the flight portion of the NEAR mission, Ernest insured that key hardware and software elements were developed and implemented. During the flybys of (253) Mathilde and (433) Eros (as well as the earth), Ernest worked with the science team delivering calibrated data within minutes of telemetry arrival for both optical navigation and science analysis. Name proposed by J. Veverka and citation written by M. Robinson.