Honorary Member 2019

Michael D. Griffin (United States) – Honorary Member Citation

Michael D. Griffin is an aerospace systems engineer of international stature in the fields of human and robotic space exploration, space and missile defense, and in the development of advanced systems from hypersonic vehicles to the Hubble Space Telescope. He has served his nation as the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in the Department of Defense, as the Administrator and, separately, the Chief Engineer of NASA, and as the Deputy for Technology of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. In the corporate world he has been the CEO of Magellan Systems and of Schafer Corporation, and was the President of In-Q-Tel. In academia, he held the King-MacDonald Chair at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, and served as an adjunct professor for thirteen years at the University of Maryland, the Johns Hopkins University, and the George Washington University. He holds seven earned degrees from six universities in five different fields, and in addition is the recipient of two honorary doctoral degrees. Griffin is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the International Academy of Astronautics, an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society. He is a recipient of the AIAA’s Goddard Astronautics Award and its Space Systems Medal, the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement, the DoD Distinguished Public Service Award, the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, and the USAF Association’s Bernard A. Schriever Space Leadership Award. The asteroid Michaelgriffin 159999 was named in his honor by the International Astronomical Union, for his contributions to the Pluto New Horizons mission. Therefore, the Omega Alpha Association Board of Directors is delighted and honored to welcome Michael Griffin to Honorary Membership in the International Honor Society for Systems Engineering.