Vernon Leslie Grose (born June 27, 1928) was an American author, academic, aerospace engineer, air disaster analyst, risk management expert, and former member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). In 1969, he was appointed to NASA's Safety Advisory Group for Space Flight. In 1974, he was honored with NASA's Silver Snoopy Award, presented by Brigadier General Thomas P. Stafford, veteran astronaut of the Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, and Apollo 10 space programs.
In 1983, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the National Transportation Safety Board, where he pioneered the concept of multiple causation of accidents. Following his appointment to the NTSB, he was appointed to serve as a member of the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee. In 1997, Vice President Al Gore requested his assistance and expertise on the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. Following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, Grose testified before the US Congress on behalf of the NTSB, presenting findings of the Board's formal investigation into the attacks.
Grose served as an executive and consultant with several organizations and corporations. , he served as the Chairman of Omega Systems Group in Arlington, Virginia. He provided keynote addresses and lectured in academic, government, and religious settings for over 50 years. He also served as a member of the faculty, adjunct professor, and guest lecturer at universities throughout the world, including Germany, Mexico, China, Spain, and the US. In 1969, he garnered national press when he addressed the California State Board of Education regarding science guidelines for teaching science and evolution in the public school system. He successfully proposed academic guidelines that supported teaching creation as a scientific theory, alongside the teaching of evolution. As a result of the Board of Education's decision to incorporate alternative scientific theories into their curriculum, other states throughout the US followed suit and revised their academic guidelines accordingly.
Personal background Vernon Leslie Grose was born on June 27, 1928, in Spokane, Washington. He was the son of Wesley and Pearl (née Quantz) Grose.Grose, Vernon L. (2006). Science But Not Scientists, AuthorHouse, page 50. His father was an automobile mechanic, while his mother was a telephone operator for the Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company. His siblings include sister, Lois, and brother, Gerald."Pearl Grose", Spokane Daily Chronicle, February 21, 1989, page 10. Grose was raised in northwest Spokane, graduating from North Central High School in 1946. In 1997, Grose was honored as an inaugural recipient of the North Central High School Distinguished Alumnus Award. Fellow recipients included Spokane Mayor, Jack Geraghty; US Congressman, George Nethercutt; Jerry Sage, WWII prisoner of war portrayed by Steve McQueen in the movie, the Great Escape; and musician Don Eagle, who toured with the USO during WWII and appeared in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (with fellow-Spokanite Bing Crosby), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (with Edward G. Robinson), and The Strip (with Mickey Rooney).
Following high school, Grose enrolled at Whitworth University in north Spokane, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1950. He served as a member of Whitworth's Alumni Association Board of Directors from 1968 to 1970. Whitworth University honored him with the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award. He earned the Master of Science degree in Systems Management in 1967, from the University of Southern California.
In 1973, Grose received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Southern California College, for his work in "forcing re-examination of scientific objectivity regarding the origin of the universe, life and man". In conferring the degree, the school president, Emil A. Balliet stated of Grose, "He has the rare and unusual ability to discern the broad issues in the world at many levels and he has the skill to go directly to the heart of the problem. Most impressive has been his leadership role in establishing the case for design as opposed to the case for chance in the study of origins in California State public school textbooks."
Grose graduated from Whitworth University three weeks before North Korea's invasion of South Korea. In 1951, following his graduation, he began serving with the United States Air Force. In 1952, he was commissioned as an Electronics Officer, later serving in Technical Intelligence with the Air Force Reserve. He retired in 1972 with the rank of captain.2001 Who's Who in the World, 18th Edition, Marquis Who's Who, 21st Century Editions,
He married Phyllis Jean Heine in Spokane on April 14, 1951, at the First Assembly of God church."Couple Are Wed", Spokane Daily Chronicle, May 1, 1951, page 46 Together, they had six children, Rhonda Susan Chumley, Brenda Ruth Tutmarc, Lynnda Lorelle Owens, Wesley Paul Grose, Bradley Wayne Grose, and Nanette Jill Shotwell.Grose, Vernon L. (2006). Science But Not Scientists, AuthorHouse, page i. In 1959, Grose moved to California,"Dr. Vernon Grose Wins NASA's 'Silver Snoopy'", The Van Nuys News, November 15, 1974 where they lived through 1983. They relocated to the Washington D.C. area in 1983, when he was sworn into public office with the National Transportation Safety Board. , Grose and his wife resided in Arlington, Virginia.
Professional background
Aerospace engineering In 1952, following his graduation from Whitworth University, Grose joined the staff at Boeing, working with the Applied Physics department. While at Boeing, he wrote the test documentation for the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic thermonuclear missile. He was also responsible for Boeing's initial testing, which utilized three separate and dynamic environments at the same time. He remained with Boeing through 1959. After working with Boeing, Grose joined the staff of Litton Industries in Woodland Hills, California, where he served as the Director of Reliability and Program Manager of Project SPARR, an Air Force program designed to address general and applied research problems related to space systems. He was responsible for overseeing an applied research space systems risk management program on behalf of the United States Air Force.
Grose joined the staff of Northrop Ventura in Rancho El Conejo, California, in 1962, serving as the Director of Applied Technology. In this role, he was responsible for test activities for the engineering department. He participated in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo projects of the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), overseeing the chemistry, metallurgy, reliability, configuration management, and value engineering of the program. In 1964, he transferred to Rocketdyne, which was a division of Rockwell International. At Rocketdyne, located in Van Nuys, Grose was named the Chief of Reliability, where he continued to focus on North American aviation, specifically participating in the development of the Gemini and Apollo space programs.
Academia and public speaking Grose has provided keynote addresses and lectured in academic, government, and religious settings for over 50 years. In 1967, he was named the Vice President of Tustin Institute of Technology (now known as Technical Training, Inc.), located in Santa Barbara, California."Technology Can't Solve Man's Problems – Man Must Change", Kokomo Tribune (Associated Press), October 28, 1970, page 39 He was responsible for the development of management curricula and system technology studies. While serving as Vice President of the school through 1981, Grose provided training for management of eight NASA field centers, including Kennedy Space Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Lewis Research Center, Langley Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
He has served as a member of the faculty, adjunct professor, and guest lecturer at universities throughout the world, including Germany, China, Spain, and the US. He served as an adjunct professor with USC in Los Angeles from 1967–1969. He taught Physics and Chemistry of Aircraft & Missile Propulsion at the University of Southern California (USC) Graduate School at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, in 1967. He then taught Space Technology and Management of Research, Development, Test & Evaluation from 1968 to 1969, at Torrejón Air Base in Madrid and Morón Air Base in Seville, Spain, again on behalf of USC's Graduate School.
In 1968, Grose began teaching Continuing Education courses in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., remaining there for 15 years. During this time, he taught classes in Risk Management, System Safety, Medical Risk, Systems Management. In 1981, he was invited to lecture students in Systematic Management of Risk at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the People's Republic of China."Vernon Grose", The Modesto Bee, May 10, 1973, page 10
He taught for UCLA in its Mexican Institute of Development course in Mexico City in 1976.
As California governor, Ronald Reagan, appointed Grose to several state government committees, councils, and boards focusing on a range of issues from the implementation of technology to addressing and resolving socio-economic and judicial problems. Appointments were made to the Governor's Select Committee on Law Enforcement Problems, serving from 1972 to 1973; the California Council on Criminal Justice, serving from 1971 to 1973; and the Board of Directors of the California Crime Technological Research Foundation, serving from 1972 to 1975. In 1972, he was appointed to the California Curriculum Development Commission, which is responsible for approving textbooks and curriculum for public schools throughout the state. He served on the Commission through 1975.
From 1980 to 1991, Grose served as an expert consultant and lecturer on behalf of the American Society of Safety Engineers of Des Plaines, Illinois.
In addition to academic settings, Grose spoke at local and regional religious conferences on behalf of the Assemblies of God, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International.
Safety and risk management As a result of his background and expertise in aeronautical and aerospace risk management and analysis, Grose has received presidential and federal appointments to various panels and committees addressing risk and safety measures related to aircraft and maritime disasters. In 1969, Wernher von Braun, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, appointed Grose to serve a two-year term on NASA's Safety Advisory Group for Space Flight in Huntsville, Alabama. Under von Braun's leadership, he served as a member of the team that designed the Saturn V booster rocket, which served as the launching vehicle on the Apollo spacecraft, enabling the first landing of men on the Moon.
Grose was appointed to the Panel on Human Error in Merchant Marine Safety in 1972, by the National Academy of Sciences. Six years later, in 1978, he was appointed to the Committee on Research Needs to Reduce Maritime Collisions, Rammings, and Groundings. That same year, he was also appointed to the Panel on Causes and Prevention of Grain Elevator Explosions.National Research Council Panel on Causes and Prevention of Grain Elevator Explosions, National Research Council, National Materials Advisory Board, National Academy of Sciences (1982). Prevention of Grain Elevator and Mill Explosions, National Academies, page 133