Howard Levine

Recognized under Tier 6 — Food Production & Space Agriculture, Howard Levine has made significant contributions to space biology and plant science for long-duration human spaceflight. Levine's career at NASA Kennedy Space Center — including service as Chief Scientist for the International Space Station and leadership of biological research programs advancing understanding of how plants and biological systems behave in spaceflight environments — has helped build the scientific foundation space agriculture depends upon. Growing food reliably and sustainably on Mars will require deep knowledge of plant biology under conditions radically different from Earth, and Levine's research is directly part of the knowledge base that will make that possible.