Howard McCurdy's Forum for Space Exploration
Public Policy for Innovation
Howard McCurdy
Dr. Howard McCurdy is a professor emeritus at the American University in Washington, D.C. and an Affiliate Professor at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington.
An expert on space exploration policy, he recently completed a study on the challenges of Financing the New Space Industry. Its publication follows a history of government innovation, NASA Spaceflight, co-edited with Roger D. Launius. His book Space and the American Imagination, now in its second edition, received the Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award. A co-authored book on Robots in Space explores the human-machine debate, while Faster, Better, Cheaper provides a critical analysis of cost-cutting initiatives in the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
An earlier study of NASA’s organizational culture, Inside NASA, won the Henry Adams prize for that year’s best history of the federal government. Among his other publications are articles and books on the space station decision, imagining space exploration, the myth of presidential leadership, and the challenges of administrative innovation.
Degrees
Ph.D. Cornell University
M.A. University of Washington
B.A. University of Washington
American Lives in an Age of Privacy
American Lives in an Age of Privacy, a historical biography that recalls events experienced by seven generations of the author’s family, shows how people from the past used privacy to reinvent themselves and transform their lives. (2014, 2017)
Research Assistant
I-Lin Lin
I-Lin earned a master's degree in Public Administration from American University. There, she studied public management, comparative public administration, and policy analysis. She received a bachelor's degree in political science from National Taiwan University, concentrating in political theory and international relations.
