K. Renee Horton

K. Renee Horton is an American physicist and an Airworthiness Deputy at NASA. She was the first black person to receive a PhD in material science and engineering with a concentration in physics at the University of Alabama. She is an advocate for black women in STEM fields and for disability rights.

Early life and education K. Renee Horton grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her father worked at a local chemical plant as a technician before returning to school for a degree in computer science; her mother worked as a clerk before returning to school to earn a degree as a medical assistant. Many members of her family had technical skills and training, "none of them was a scientist."

As a child, she aspired to becoming an astronaut. From this inspiration, she decided to pursue science, despite concerns from her father that black people might not be able become scientists, although "he did know some black engineers." An early talent in mathematics, Horton graduated from high school at 16.

Enrolling locally at Southern University, the "Black School" in Baton Rouge, Horton's plan was to join the Air Force ROTC program. This plan was disrupted when she failed a hearing test, revealing hearing loss that, undiagnosed, had dogged Horton for years. Then 18, Horton dropped out of school, got married, and moved with her husband to Germany on his military assignment.

Returning to academia seven years later after completing a technician's degree in electronics, Horton enrolled at Louisiana State University to complete her B.S. in electrical engineering (2002).

While at LSU, Horton experienced discrimination as a disabled person, the adaptive hearing devices she was then using not being sufficiently advanced to make up for her hearing deficits. Then, following her transfer to hometown Southern University to work on a master's degree in Physics, she experienced discrimination as a woman. At both schools Horton was confronted by professors who told her in direct terms that she didn't "belong."

Her thesis was titled "Microhardness, strength and strain field characterization of self-reacting friction stir and plug welds of dissimilar aluminum alloys," advised by Mark Barkey.

While completing doctoral work, Horton also worked at the Center for Materials for Information Technology at the University of Alabama, where as part of her work she led an outreach program for children in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

In 2016, Horton was elected president of the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP). Upon election, she became the second woman to hold the role of president. In 2017, she was elected a fellow of the NSBP. She has also served on the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Women in Physics Working Group and the Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute (EBASI) Executive Body.

Select publications

Women in Physics in the United States, AIP Conference Proceedings 1119, 189 (2009) Anisotropy Graded Media: Extending the Superparamagnetic Limit (abstract), AIP Conference Proceedings 1119, 217 (2009);

Awards NASA Space Flight Awareness Team award LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction honoree (2020)