John M. Horack

John M. Horack is the vice president for research at The Ohio State University where he leads the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge (ERIK), overseeing strategic research operations, commercialization initiatives, and collaborative partnerships across the university. A 30-year veteran of the spaceflight industry, he is a globally-recognized leader in space-based research, flight hardware development, program management, and space policy in the academic, government and private sectors. His appointment aligns with Ohio State’s ambitious Education for Citizenship 2035 strategic plan, which aims to grow the university’s research enterprise to $2 billion by 2035.

Dr. Horack is the inaugural holder of the Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy at Ohio State, with tenured, full-professor appointments in the College of Engineering’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. Prior to joining Ohio State in 2016, he served for four years as vice president of Teledyne Brown Engineering’s Space Systems group in Huntsville, Alabama, with responsibility for overseeing all government and commercial Space programs, including Science, International Space Station Payload Operations, Test Support, Flight Hardware, Launch Vehicle and Component Development, and Earth Imaging, including the deployment of the MUSES commercial imaging platform to the ISS and the installation of state-of-the-art Hyperspectral instrumentation for commercial remote sensing.

From 2009-2012 Dr. Horack served as vice president of research for The University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he had fiscal oversight for the university’s research enterprise, including 14 research centers and laboratories. During his tenure the university grew annual research expenditures from $65M to nearly $100 million and moved from an R2 to an R1.

Dr. Horack had an impressive career at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) having achieved the level of Senior Executive Service. His last position at NASA was as manager of the Science and Mission Systems Office, where he was responsible for advanced, complex science and exploration research and nearly 400 civil service personnel and contractors. For work in this role, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal. He held several titles while at MSFC, including assistant director of the Space Transportation Programs and Projects Office, assistant director for science communications in the Space Sciences Laboratory, and assistant mission scientist for the Astro-2 payload that flew on the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Dr. Horack also held the positions of gamma ray astrophysics research scientist; assembly, test, and calibration scientist for the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE); and resident scientist for spacecraft integration at TRW in Redondo Beach, CA, for assembly and test of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, launched in April 1991 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.

He began his NASA career in 1987 after graduating from Northwestern University with a BA in physics and astronomy. He earned a MA and PhD in physics from The University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1992 and 1993, respectively.

He has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers and conference presentations. Dr. Horack has spoken at numerous universities, research institutes, and industrial organizations, and served a term as a Vice President of the International Astronautical Federation. He is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Astronomical Society as well as an Associate Fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics and Fellow with the Royal Aeronautical Society (UK).