Tribute: Louis Stodieck

Louis Stodieck, chief scientist and former director of BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), has retired after nearly 50 years of service in bioastronautics.

Stodieck earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees at CU and has been a central figure at BioServe Space Technologies since its founding in 1987, when space payloads were almost exclusively the domain of NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration. For more than three decades, he successfully championed BioServe’s mission of broadening industry participation in space-based research, expanding educational outreach, and driving workforce development. Under his leadership, BioServe increased its payload cadence from two to nearly 20 complex payloads per year. Stodieck also contributed to the development of BioServe’s permanent hardware on the ISSInternational Space Station, including incubators, microscopes, and cold storage systems for astronaut food and medications.

The ISS National Lab extends its sincere gratitude to Louis Stodieck for his dedication to advancing the commercial space economy and wishes him continued success, happiness, and good health in retirement.