David F. Voracek

David F. Voracek is the chief technologist at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. He leads the effort on advocating for innovation, advising on technology strategy and helping in technology program decisions such as for Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR). 

Voracek also manages the Center Innovation Fund, which supports new and state-of-the-art technological ideas at the center. As chief technologist, Voracek is a member of the Center Technology Council that advises on the agency’s technology strategy within the NASA Headquarters Office of the Chief Technologist.

Experience

In April 2010, Voracek took a temporary assignment to NASA Headquarters to support the formulation of NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist and later that year was appointed as chief technologist at Armstrong.

Previously, Voracek worked in the center’s Business Development Office as a liaison for other government agencies and industry where he assisted with developing technology programs. In this position, he also managed a $I million competitive internal research and technology development program at the center.

In 2008, he was appointed the deputy director for Research and Engineering where he helped to supervise a 143-person directorate and managed the research budget.

Voracek was the chief engineer for the Active Aeroelastic Wing Project, or X-53, in 1995. Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Boeing, he led the team to formulate the research objectives and develop the requirements.

Voracek was the chief engineer for the F/A-18 Systems Research Aircraft, working with NASA and AFRL technologists to integrate experiments on the aircraft, coordinating the technical engineering staff and providing technical briefings.

Voracek began his career at Armstrong in 1987 as a research engineer in structural dynamics working on flight research programs such as F-16XL, X-29 and F/A-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle, performing structural testing on the aircraft.

Education

Voracek received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in 1986 from Iowa State University and a Master of Science in aerospace engineering in 1991 from Northrop University in Los Angeles. He also earned a Master of Science in systems architecture and engineering in 2008 from University of Southern California.