Biography of D. Block, Florida Solar Energy Center, Cocoa, FL, USA

David L. Block, Ph.D., P.E

Dr. David Block is Director Emeritus of the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), having resigned as Center Director in November 2002. He has the distinction of serving as FSEC’s Director for 25 years, which was the longest of any individual in a similar position in the United States.  In the 25 years under his leadership, FSEC has earned national and international recognition as the largest and most active state-supported solar energy institute in the nation.

As Center Director, he was key to the development of FSEC’s hydrogen program and its hydrogen activities.  At the present time, he is working full-time in hydrogen research and is Project Manager of FSEC’s NASA hydrogen research grant.  The NASA grant of $8 million per year (now in its second year) is used to support the hydrogen activities for NASA’s space launches and the development of spaceports for the future

In addition, Dr. Block has received numerous awards and honors over the years.  The most notable of these are the Charles Greeley Abbott Award, given by the American Solar Energy Society (1999); the 40^th Space Congress Achievement Award for Outstanding Education and Contribution to Space (2003) and Fellow Memberships in the American Solar Energy Society and the Florida Engineering Society.

He has published and presented more than 150 technical and professional papers and has given 22  Congressional testimonies.  He is a Professor of Engineering at the University of Central Florida and has worked for the federal government at NASA and for private industry at Martin Marietta Corporation.  He is a registered Professional Engineer and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.