Daniel Ward II

Daniel Ward II holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Graphics from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Space Studies with a concentration in Aerospace Science. In 1998, he was selected to serve as a NASA faculty research fellow with Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California where he worked on projects including the F-18 Active Aeroelastic Wing and the Helios Imaging Project. He also produced two interactive educational products for the center: the Aerospace Educators Resource Guide and Test Flying Newton's Laws. He was exposed to projects such as the X-34, X-38 and the end of the SR-71 and Space Shuttle programs. Building on that experience, he was appointed as a researcher in the Microgravity Flight Program at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in 2011 where he worked on development and testing of long-duration spaceflight technologies flying experiments in zero-G test aircraft. He is a twice-published author for NASA in the areas of computer imaging and 3D printing.

Dan is the founder and chair of the Indiana Robotics Educators (IRE) Grant. Since its inception in 2005, the IRE group and its offshoots have been responsible for training over 1800 K-12 teachers in robotics instruction and competition-partnering with 75% of the high schools in Indiana with grants totaling 3.5 million dollars. Funded by the State of Indiana from 2005-2015, the grant is currently being supported by Purdue University and industry partners. During his 22 years of serving as a FIRST, BEST and VEX Robotics mentor, he received many research grants focusing on robotics education from the State of Indiana, Autodesk, Inc., the National Robotics Education Foundation and the National Science Foundation. A computer-aided design and technical documentation expert, he has been using and teaching Autodesk design software for more than 30 years. He maintains strong ties to Autodesk, Inc. as a consultant, contractor and presenter. Dan is actively involved with several professional groups and is a sought-after speaker and author on robotics education. He has presented on robotics education and virtual design at the International FIRST Robotics Conference, Autodesk University, Carnegie Mellon University, the National Robotics Education Conference and the NASA Faculty Fellowship Conference. He has been a post-secondary educator for most of his career, including serving as a lecturer at Purdue Polytechnic teaching MET, ENGT and CGT courses.

Dan has also instilled his lifelong love of aerospace into his four children, who have fond memories of meeting astronauts & fighter pilots and of visiting air & space museums throughout their childhoods. Though they are now adults, they still wake up to watch middle-of-the-night rocket launches with their dad.