Dr. Michael D. Watson – NESC Academy Biography

Michael D. Watson is in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) System Engineering Management Office.  He is leading the NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium responsible for definition of elegant product focused systems engineering.  

Dr. Watson has served as the Space Launch System (SLS) Lead Discipline Engineer for Operations Engineering.  He started his career with NASA developing International Space Station (ISS) operations capabilities.  He also worked to develop remote operations support capabilities for the Spacelab Program in the United States, Europe, and Japan.  He subsequently served as Chief of the Optics Branch responsible for the fabrication of large x-ray telescope mirrors, diffractive optics, and telescope systems.  He served as Chief of the Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) and Sensors Branch and led a NASA team defining Vehicle Management System capabilities for human missions to Mars.  His branch work included the definition of ISHM capabilities for the Ares family of launch vehicles. 

Dr. Watson graduated with a BSEE from the University of Kentucky in 1987 and obtained his MSE in Electrical and Computer Engineering (1996) and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (2005) from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.