Mark Clayson

Mark Harwood Clayson is an architectural engineer in the aerospace industry. He leads teams in developing and evaluating architectures and conceptual designs for new government space systems and systems of systems, including communications, navigation, surveillance, and environmental.

Clayson grew up in Anaheim, California, and served a mission to Switzerland for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which he is a member. He earned his BS degree in physics and astronomy from Brigham Young University in 1975 and his MS degree in astrophysical, planetary, and atmospheric sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He earned a second MS in systems architecture and engineering from the University of Southern California.

He has worked for the Aerospace Corporation for more than twenty-five years. He is a Senior Engineering Specialist (Systems Architect/Systems Engineer) in the Space Architecture Department, Systems Engineering Division. He has also done work in decision support systems, and sensor systems modeling and simulation. He has received various corporate and customer awards and commendations, while supporting numerous programs and studies for the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA/JPL, and NOAA. He worked four years on the technical staff at Hughes Aircraft in the Advanced Technology Department, Optics Laboratory.

Clayson was a research and teaching assistant in the Astrophysical, Planetary and Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder and in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Brigham Young University. He was an adjunct astronomy instructor at El Camino College in Torrence, California. He was a computing fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.