Ken Ford (Lunar Landings, Elite Human Performance and Firefighter Schedules) - Episode 1228
Behind The Shield
James Geering
4.9 • 695 Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 131 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr Ken Ford is a Navy veteran, former NASA computer scientist and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer Emeritus of the Florida Insitute for Human and Machine Cognition. We discuss his journey into the military, living in Guantanamo Bay, the genesis of computers in the military, the moon landing, exploring Mars, Tier One operators, the firefighter workweek, exoskeletons, sleep for performance and so much more.
With campuses in Pensacola and Ocala, IHMC has grown into one of the nation’s premier research organizations with world-class scientists and engineers investigating a broad range of topics related to building technological systems aimed at amplifying and extending human cognition, perception, locomotion and resilience.
Dr. Ford is the author of hundreds of scientific papers and six books. Dr. Ford’s research interests include: artificial intelligence, cognitive science, human-centered computing, and entrepreneurship in government and academia. Dr. Ford received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Tulane University. Ford is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and a charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
Ford has received many awards and honors including the Doctor Honoris Causas from the University of Bordeaux in 2005 and the 2008 Robert Englemore Memorial Award for his work in artificial intelligence. In 2012 Tulane University named Ford its Outstanding Alumnus in the School of Science and Engineering. In 2015, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence named Dr. Ford the recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Service Award. In 2017 Dr. Ford was inducted into the Florida Inventor’s Hall of Fame.
In January 1997, Dr. Ford was asked by NASA to develop and direct its new Center of Excellence in Information Technology at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. He served as Associate Center Director and Director of NASA’s Center of Excellence in Information Technology. In July 1999, Dr. Ford was awarded the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal. That same year, Ford returned to private life and to the IHMC.
In October of 2002, President George W. Bush nominated Dr. Ford to serve on the National Science Board (NSB) and the United States Senate confirmed his nomination in March of 2003. The NSB is the governing board of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and plays an important role in advising the President and Congress on science policy issues. In 2005, Dr. Ford was appointed and sworn in as a member of the Air Force Science Advisory Board.
In 2007, he became a member of the NASA Advisory Council and on October 16, 2008, Dr. Ford was named as Chairman – a capacity in which he served until October 2011. In August 2010, Dr. Ford was awarded NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal – the highest honor the agency confers.
In February of 2012, Dr. Ford was named to the Defense Science Board (DSB) and in 2013, he became a member of the Advanced Technology Board (ATB) which supports the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). In 2018, Dr. Ford was appointed to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
In 2020, Florida Trend Magazine named Ford one of its Living Legends, a list of all-time influential Florida leaders in business, medicine, academia, entertainment, politics, and sport.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is sponsored by a company who has truly found a solution to an age-old problem, |
| 0:05.0 | and that is KarnerBunker Gear. |
| 0:07.5 | One of the most prevalent conversations in the fire service is should we or should we not |
| 0:12.5 | train in our bunker gear? |
| 0:14.5 | Now, the answer to both is yes. |
| 0:17.0 | As most of us are aware, the carcinogens from structure fires of which there are over 260 that are dangerous to human health, not to mention the PFAS and other chemicals that are within our gear from the manufacturing process are factors that we obviously want to minimize. |
| 0:33.5 | Now, the other side of the coin is that we do need to train in our gear. |
| 0:37.4 | There is no way to acclimatize the heat retention and lack of mobility than to actually wear the gear. |
| 0:43.3 | So seeing this problem himself, firefighter and exercise physiologist Ryan Conley developed a carcinogen-free gear at a much lower cost that can be used in non-IDLH atmosphere and training that does not |
| 0:57.3 | require puncture or tear resistance. Now as someone who always trained in gear myself throughout my |
| 1:03.0 | career, I wish this technology was around then. And I got to test it personally while coaching my |
| 1:08.9 | tactical athlete class a few weeks ago and can testify that |
| 1:12.7 | it not only simulates the heat retention of frontline gear, but also the lack of mobility, |
| 1:18.7 | which is imperative at operating at a high level on the fireground. Now, some additional benefits |
| 1:23.9 | include being able to doff the gear when you do get banged out for a call, |
| 1:28.7 | increasing the lifespan of your frontline bunker gear, and then also public education. |
| 1:34.0 | Think of the number of times that we allow, for example, school children to wear our gear |
| 1:38.2 | when it's infused with all these carcinogens. |
| 1:41.6 | So there are so many real-world applications for a fraction of the cost |
| 1:46.1 | of IDLH-rated bunker gear. So if you want to hear the whole story behind this, listen to my |
| 1:52.2 | conversation with Ryan Conley on episode 1175 of the Behind the Shield podcast, or go to |
| 1:59.3 | carna bunkergear.com. Welcome to the Behind a Shield podcast or go to carna bunkergear.com. |
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