Brent Heard

Executive in Residence and Instructor of Business Statistics

251 Merrill Hall 

Brent Heard is Jacksonville State University’s College of Business and Industry Executive in Residence. 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, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and presently for NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. 

He has taught at the college level for over 30 years, including the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he taught courses in statistics, calculus, and mathematics of flight/navigation before moving back to Jacksonville, Alabama. 

Currently, he serves as the Agency Program Executive for Reliability and Probabilistic Risk Assessment in the Mission Assurance Capabilities and Standards Division for the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA Headquarters. He develops courses related to reliability engineering and provides analytical support to NASA programs, projects, and missions. 

In addition to his NASA career and teaching, Brent is a storyteller (on stage), writer (publishing over one thousand 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 and an avid supporter of Gamecock sports, the Southerners, and the Gamecock Battalion.