Dr. K. Renee Horton’s Journey from Baton Rouge to NASA
February 13, 2025
Dr. K. Renee Horton’s journey from Baton Rouge to becoming a NASA deputy has been one of perseverance, determination and unapologetic self-belief. As the NASA Airworthiness Deputy for the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstrator, she’s at the forefront of pioneering advancements in aerospace. She was recently featured in the Louisiana Economic Development's series, "Come Home, Louisiana."
"My soul is the calmest when I'm on a plane headed back to Louisiana,” she said.
Horton grew up in Baton Rouge, attended McKinley High School, and initially joined the Air Force ROTC. But just before her 18th birthday, she discovered she was hearing impaired—an undiagnosed condition that had affected her school years and shaped her early adulthood. “I found out that I was hearing-impaired at 17,” she recalls, “and during that time, I ended up dropping out of college, getting pregnant, and marrying my then-sweetheart.” Determined to reclaim her future, she later returned to LSU, completed her bachelor’s in electrical engineering in 2002, and pursued a master’s in physics before earning a Ph.D. in material science with a concentration in physics from the University of Alabama.
Beyond her role with NASA, Horton is also the founder of Unapologetically Being Inc., a nonprofit based in New Orleans focused on community empowerment and supporting marginalized voices. She also wrote a book, “Dr. H Explores the Universe.”
In 2020 she told LSU, “It’s a kids book series where we go to the planets, the constellations, the moons and then the dwarf planets. The character is based off of me, so she is also hearing impaired in the book,” Horton said. “We created the book for diversity reasons – so that kids can see people that look like them, and people who don’t look like them, can do amazing things. I’m here in Louisiana because I want to be able to make an impact here, make a change in our state, so when our kids are coming up, they know what they want to do is possible."
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