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Howard D. Ross, PhD

Associate Director for Planning and Evaluation at the National Aeronautics and Space

NASA

Good research put us on the moon.

Dr. Howard D. Ross serves as the Associate Director for Planning and Evaluation at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland. In this position, he reports directly to the Center Director while managing and participating in special study teams to support center and agency decisions. He also leads Glenn's strategic workforce planning efforts and assists on center policymaking issues, overseeing various study teams and activities on a broad range of center technical, programmatic and institutional issues.

From August 2002 through October 2007, Dr. Ross served in several positions at NASA Headquarters, including Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Biological and Physical Research; Deputy Associate Administrator for Research, Exploration Systems Mission Directorate; and as Deputy Chief Scientist.

More recently, Dr. Ross served as a senior program analyst in the Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation on staff to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. He gained valuable experience as lead for many studies and projects, such as the agency's efforts to reduce its "uncovered capacity" of civil servants, strategic communications, reimbursable business and strategic workforce modeling. Prior to his assignments at Headquarters, he served as Senior Technologist for Microgravity Combustion Research at the Glenn Research Center.

Dr. Ross began his NASA career in 1985 as a research engineer at Lewis Research Center (now the Glenn Research Center). In 1990, he served as the Chief of the Microgravity Combustion Branch performing and administrating research and technology development on the chemistry and physics of fires. In 2001, he was promoted to the Senior Technologist corps and had responsibilities for conducting research and leading technical and programmatic planning in fluid physics and combustion science.

He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Maryland. He is the author and editor of "Fire in Free Fall: Microgravity Combustion Science," published in 2001. He has also been a part-time lecturer at Case Western Reserve University, teaching a course in fluid and thermal sciences in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department.

Dr. Ross is the recipient of numerous NASA awards, including Outstanding Leadership Medal, Exceptional Achievement Award, Exceptional Service Medal, and Silver Snoopy Award. He has also received agency-wide group awards for shuttle mission support and strategic planning as well as center-level awards for individual achievement

Source: NASA

12/08/2008

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