Brent Heard

Executive in Residence and Instructor of Business Statistics

251 Merrill Hall
256-782-5766
bnheard@jsu.edu 

Brent Heard is Jacksonville State University’s College of Business and Industry Executive in Residence and Instructor of Statistics beginning in the fall semester, 2024.  He is a NASA researcher with over 35 years of experience in reliability engineering, quality engineering, safety engineering, probabilistic risk analysis, statistical modeling, risk management, and project management.  He has worked for Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. 

He has taught at the college level for over 30 years, most recently at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he taught courses in statistics, calculus, and the mathematics of flight/navigation. 

Currently, he serves as the NASA Safety Center’s Technical Discipline Lead for Reliability Engineering, remotely developing and administering courses related to the reliability engineering discipline and providing analytical support to NASA programs and projects. 

In addition to his NASA career and teaching, Brent is a storyteller (on stage), writer (publishing over 1000 human interest & humor columns/stories in newspapers and magazines), and former entrepreneur who owned recreational, mail-order, and publishing businesses in north Alabama in the 1990’s. 

He earned his B.S and M.S. in Mathematics from Jacksonville State University, where he was also awarded the “Young Alumnus of the Year” in 1990. In addition to his recognition from JSU, he was awarded NASA’s “Silver Snoopy” from astronaut Larry DeLucas for probabilistic risk analyses associated with the Space Shuttle Main Engines, nominated for two RNASA Foundation Stellar Awards, and presented with over 50 NASA Individual and Group Achievement Awards. 

Brent is a native of Calhoun County, Alabama.  He will be moving back to Alabama from Williamsburg, Virginia to call Jacksonville home and be active on campus, helping students pursue their career goals and cheer on the Gamecocks.