Ken Davidian
Ken Davidian is now the NASA ESMD (Exploration Systems Mission Directorate) Commercial Development Policy Lead. Ken Davidian is also now a NASA employee and the former Program Manager for Centennial Challenges at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Within ESMD, Mr. Davidian is charged with conducting and promoting commercialization efforts related to the Vision for Space Exploration and the Global Exploration Strategy. Mr. Davidian is also the principal driver of Centennial Challenges, NASA’s prize program modeled on past and ongoing prize competitions. Centennial Challenges was established to stimulate technology developments from private industry, universities, and individual innovators that support of the Vision for Space Exploration and ongoing NASA programs. Prior to his current position, Mr. Davidian served as Director of Operations for the X PRIZE Foundation. Responsibilities in this position included managing the registration process, team information and relations, and many aspects of flight attempt validation, judging, and event coordination. In addition to his prize-related work experience, Mr. Davidian has worked for Paragon Space Development Corp. as Program Manager and also as Director of Operations consulting to Cargo Lifter Development. Finally, Mr. Davidian spent the first 18 years of his career working for NASA Glenn Research Center in the area of analytical and experimental research on the performance of liquid rocket engines. For a three-year period, NASA Glenn loaned Mr. Davidian to work at the International Space University as the Assistant Director of Operations for the 1997-1999 Summer Session Programs. Mr. Davidian is an alumnus of the International Space University, earned a B.S. degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Ohio State University and a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering (Fluid and Thermal Sciences) from Case Western Reserve University.