Dr. Kumar Krishen was born in Chandpora, Kashmir, in the foothills of the Himalayas. From his childhood, he keenly observed the nature around him and the interaction of humans in this setting. The Valley of Kashmir is often called the paradise on Earth. Parks, gardens, lakes, and rivers all combine to provide unparalleled beauty in the lap of the mountains that surround this valley. After completing the tenth grade, Dr. Krishen left his home to attend college in Srinagar, Kashmir. Here he spent four years in the dormitory. During those years, he wrote prose and poetry to entertain his friends and classmates Dr. Krishen then left Kashmir to attend Calcutta University for five years. At this university, he was selected the prefect for the college of technology in recognition of his behavior and overall merit.

Dr. Krishen left India in 1964 as a result of a scholarship given to him by late Hon. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India. Dr. Krishen has lived continuously in the United States from 1964. In the United States, he attended the Kansas State University and moved to the Clear Lake area of Houston, Texas, in 1969. Dr. Kumar Krishen is the Senior Technologist and R&D Lead for the Technology Transfer Office, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, responsible for developing strategies for joint research and technology projects and plans with, industries, universities, other NASA centers and government agencies. Dr. Krishen has served at Virginia Tech as University Fellow for Technology Transfer, Office of Special Initiatives, and Visiting Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering on a special NASA assignment. He also served as Adjunct Professor at Rice University in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Dr. Krishen has represented JSC as the Principal Technologist on the NASA Council on Science and Technology. His academic degrees are from Kansas State University (Ph.D. and M.S. Phi Kappa Phi, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi), Calcutta University (M. Tech and B. Tech- Gold and Silver Medals), and Jammu and Kashmir University (B.A.- Highest University Merit) in electronics, electrical engineering, radio physics, and mathematics. Dr. Krishen taught and guided research in Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Kansas State University before joining Lockheed in 1969 as Staff Scientist. Dr. Krishen joined NASA in 1976 and has held key positions in Advanced Programs in Earth Observations, Science Payloads, Experiment Systems, Tracking & Communications, Mission Support, New Initiatives, and technology R&D.

Dr. Krishen was nominated by Governor George W. Bush and confirmed by the State Senate of Texas to the Texas Board of Licensure for Professional Medical Physicists in 1999 and continues to serve on this Board. Authoring more than 150 technical papers/reports/proceedings, Dr. Krishen is a Fellow of the Society for Design and Process Science (SDPS) and an Assoc. Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He is the recipient of many awards, medals, and commendations from universities, industry, and government organizations, and is listed in Who is Who in the World, Men of Achievement, Personalities of America, and 2000 Outstanding People of the 20th Century and was commissioned "Honorary Texan" by Texas Governor Perry in 2001. Dr. Krishen was awarded Bharat Samman, the highest honor given by the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Institute in 2006. The award was presented by the British High Commissioner to India. He was awarded Hind Rattan, the highest award given by NRIW Society in 2008. The award was presented by Hon. Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Minister for Power, Government of India.

Although he is professionally a scientist and a technologist, his keen interest in the arts has always motivated him to write prose and poetry in pursuit of the harmony of nature and the tumult of humanity brought about by rapid industrialization and technological intervention. He was one of the founders of the Hindu Worship Society, an organization with a large membership in Houston. He was the President of this organization for five terms of one year each. Dr. Krishen has served as the President of the India Culture Center in Clear Lake, and founded the Asian American Committee of the NASA Johnson Space Center and was its President for 1988. In 1994, he founded the Clear Lake Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, and served as its President up to the end of 1996. He has also served as the Chairman of the IEEE Galveston Bay Section for 1994 and Program Chairman for the World Congress for Superconductivity from 1988 to 1997. Dr. Krishen was the Head Coach of Super Lakers, a girl's high school age Red Team. This Team won the State of Texas soccer Championship in 1982.

Dr. Krishen also established the Krishen Foundation for Arts and Sciences that has significantly contributed to the understanding between the Untied States and India on the basis of arts, sciences, and education. This Foundation has received praise from many prominent leaders of USA and India, including the late President of India Hon. Giani Zail Singh. He has had rich experiences as a result of the diversity of people and cultures he was exposed to throughout his life.

• Ms. Leslie Roche, Director, TIO, United Space Alliance

"What I find particularly remarkable is your ability to communicate with such a diverse group of people with specialties in myriad areas, and make the information relevant to every listener. This takes a special gift, but also demonstrates your own expansive breadth of knowledge."

• Dr. Henry Selvaraj, General Chair, 19th International Conference on Systems Engineering held in the University, August 19-22, 2008

"Your keynote talk on "Technology Needs for Future Human Space Missions" at the 19th International Conference on Systems Engineering held in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Aug. 19[-22,2008] was very interesting and appreciated by all the participants. The discussion on the topic continued even after the conference was over."

• William Atwell, Fellow, the Boeing Company

"A note of thanks for your excellent presentation & technical discussions wrt NASA Technology Needs and the development of a Technology Roadmap to the Boeing-Houston Technical Fellows and Management."

• Wei-Kan Chu, Ph.D., University of Houston

"I enjoyed your seminar very much. You packed your talk with a lot of important information which will impact our thinking on research directions. You delivered with great enthusiasm that motivates our graduate students and faculty members."

• Prof. B. K. Bhan ( Retd.), Jammu and Kashmir University, Jammu & Kashmir

"Dr. Krishen is not only a brilliant scientist but also a man of letters possessing gift of the gab, to say the least. I wish him God speed in all his undertakings."

• Professor (Chaired) Dr. F. G. Gray, Virginia Tech, Virginia

"I heard Dr. Krishen's presentation at IEEE Virginia Mountain Section meeting last month in Roanoke. It is absolutely the best technical presentation that I have ever heard. Everyone should attend. You do not need to be an expert to appreciate his talk. But if you are, you will appreciate it even more."

• Mr. Donald Smith, Member, BW Group, Houston, Texas

"Wow! What an outstanding contribution Dr. Kumar Krishen made to the erudition of BW last night! I am sure all share my gratitude for having such a supremely interesting and articulate dining guest (Dr. Krishen)"

• Students of the Signal and Systems Courses at Virginia Tech, Virginia

"Dr. Krishen is the best Professor I have had at Virginia Tech - very intelligent and explains well." "This guy knows too much. He needs to give us all some of his brain."

• Professor Dr. Gary S. Brown, Bradley Distinguished Professor of Electromagnetics, Virginia Tech, Virginia

"The students were most enthusiastic about your presentation entitled, 'Perspectives of Remote Sensing of Earth and Space Environments,' and felt that your presentation was very motivational."

• Mr. Richard A. Huebner, President, Houston Minority Business Council, Houston

"For the first time in 20 years I think I understand the Small Business Innovation Research program (from Dr. Krishen)."

• Prof. Dr. Donald Secreast, Radford University, Virginia

"For those readers who enjoy spiritual explorations in the form of personal narratives, Dr. Krishen's book provides delightful reading. If I had to compare his work to other writers that I admire, I would put him in the company of spiritual explorers like Peter Matthiessen, Barry Lopez, and James Redfield. In particular, Why Me? engages in the same metaphysical speculation found in Matthiessen's Snow Leopard, Lopez's Winter Count, and Redfield's Celestine Prophecy."

• Michael S. LaTour, Ph.D., Chairman, Marketing Department, University of Nevada,LV

"Thank you, Dr. Krishen for a very insightful, "on-target" presentation. As we discussed, tech transfer is by nature a multi-disciplinary process."

• Sugoto Chakravarty, PhD, Univ of Houston

"It was wonderful interacting with you at the recently concluded UH-DoD meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed your lively presentation. Your enthusiasm for spotting new ideas with possible technological spin-offs was so visible and infectious that it is worth emulating in many other public institutions."

• Mr. Kyle Stephenson, University of Louisiana

"Dr. Krishen's presentation was definitely the best yet. It was very interesting and Dr. Krishen was an excellent presenter. I would hope that he is able to give presentations to the future seminar classes."

• Mr. Jerry Babb, University of Louisiana

"Dr. Kumar's presentation was great. His presentation was perfect for the intended audience. He was technical enough to get his point across but did not bore the class with details that can get in the way of a good presentation."

• Dr. Pratul Ajmera, Louisiana State University

"I have talked to several faculty members who attended your talk. They all appreciated the global nature of the talk and the broad overview it provided on NASA's upcoming manned missions to the moon and Mars."

• Prof. William E. Simon, PhD., P.E., University of Louisiana

"I want to thank you for coming to talk to our Seminar class yesterday. I received many good reports from students of this class about your presentation. It was very well received, and I know it will help many of our grads as they join the profession and begin to contribute to the development of new technology."

"We really did enjoy it. Keep up the great work you are doing in Technology Transfer and Future Missions Planning."

• Mr. Clint Larson, University of Louisiana

"I very much enjoyed the presentation today given by Dr. Krishen. He was very enthusiastic and full of energy."

• Mr. Jairo E. Pertuz, NASA Intern

"Kumar, thank you for the presentation it was excellent.
It makes me want to go out and get an SBIR even though I don't have a commercially viable idea."

• Dr. Frank Tittel, Rice University

"Many thanks for coming to Rice today and giving a very relevant and interesting talk."

• Dr. Pushkin Kachroo, Co-Director, Transportation Research Center/University of Nevada LV Transportation Center

"It was a great pleasure and honor to have you come to UNLV and present the key note speech. The talk was very informative and useful. It gave us a clear picture of what NASA is interested in as fa [r] as space exploration [is] concerned. The video that you presented before the talk was excellent as well. I appreciate the time you spent in the session I was chairing. All the authors of that session appreciated your insightful questions and comments."

• Dr. Michael J. Salkind, President, Ohio Aerospace Institute

"Our Distinguished Lecture today was [delivered by] Dr. Kumar Krishen who spoke on, "Space Technology Development, Transfer, and Commercialization" to an audience of industry, university, and NASA Glenn colleagues. I wanted to tell you how well received his talk was. He gave us a wonderful context of technology challenges and I'm sure the germ of several new collaborative efforts were born as a result of his talk"