Albion H. Bowers had a 37 year career with NASA at the Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, CA. Al retired as the Chief Scientist of NASA Armstrong. Prior to that Al was the Associate Director for Research, the Director for Aeronautics Projects, the Special Assistant to the Associate Administrator of Aeronautics (in Washington DC), Deputy Director of Research and Engineering, and the Chief of Aerodynamics.
Prior to these positions, Mr Bowers was an aerospace engineer on approximately 24 different aerospace projects. He was chief engineer for seven aircraft and project manager of one research aircraft. He has approximately 30 peer reviewed publications. He is also the discoverer of how birds are able to turn and maneuver without use of vertical tails (as aircraft do) and holds two patents on this technology. Bowers mentored approximately 200 student interns, grads and undergrads in his years at NASA. Many of these young people are in their careers working at NASA now. Bowers holds the NASA Exceptional Service Medal (2006) and the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (2014), was selected by his peers as “Mentor of the Year” four times, and selected by iLead schools for their “Vision in Education” award (2018).
Mr Bowers’ specialty is in fluid and flight mechanics and systems engineering, and he holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aeronautical Engineering, plus additional coursework towards a PhD, from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Al has been married to his wife Leanne for 38 years, and they have two sons. Al & Leanne are about to become grandparents for the first time. He was a member of the Boy Scouts for nearly 30 years (as a Scout and an adult leader). Al is a teaching elder at his church. Al was a long time member of the Hang Glider association, the Soaring Society, and has run the western workshop for Soaring for over 20 years. He lives in Lancaster, CA.
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