John Z. Kiss (born 1960) is an American biologist known for his work on the gravitational and space biology of plants. Kiss is senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the

Florida Institute of Technology Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech or FIT) is a private research university in Melbourne, Florida. The university comprises four academic colleges: Engineering & Science, Aeronautics, Psychology & Liberal Arts, and Business. Approxim ...

. Previously, he was dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He has also served as dean of the Graduate School at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

. and distinguished professor and chair of the

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

department at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

. He has worked with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

since 1987 and served as principal investigator on nine spaceflight experiments on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

, the former Russian space station

Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

, and on the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. His research focuses on the sensory physiology of plants in space. He received the

NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal The NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal is awarded to individuals who were not Government employees during the period in which the accomplishment was achieved, "for notable leadership accomplishments that have significantly influenced the NAS ...

in 2014. In 2021, Asteroid Kiss 8267 was named in his honor, a recognition that coincided with his receipt of the 2021

COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Science, International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU) and its first chair was Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl. Among COSPAR's objec ...

International Cooperation Medal. His international collaboration on a spaceflight project with NASA and the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

has led to the discovery of novel sensory mechanisms in plants.

Education

Kiss received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. and a Ph.D. in

and

plant physiology Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Plant physiologists study fundamental processes of plants, such as photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrition, plant hormone functions, tr ...

from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

in 1987. His doctoral work focused on biosynthesis of the storage carbohydrate paramylon in the alga

Euglena ''Euglena'' is a genus of Unicellular organism, single-celled, flagellate eukaryotes. It is the best-known and most widely studied member of the class Euglenoidea, a diverse group containing some 54 genera and at least 200 species. Species of '' ...

. From 1987 to 1990 Kiss conducted post-doctoral work on

gravitropism Gravitropism (also known as geotropism) is a coordinated process of differential growth by a plant in response to gravity pulling on it. It also occurs in fungi. Gravity can be either "artificial gravity" or natural gravity. It is a general feat ...

in plants at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, where he was first introduced to NASA-related research. His first funded project, on gravity perception and response mechanisms, was as a

research associate at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

from 1990 to 1991.

Personal life

Kiss is married to Helen Guiragossian Kiss, who also received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University and works in higher education research. They have one son, Stephen Vahe Kiss.

Academic career

Kiss’ first tenure-track appointment was as an assistant professor at

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

from 1991 to 1993. From (1993–2012) he worked at

becoming a University Distinguished Professor in 2011. The following year, Kiss received the

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a ...

Medallion, the highest recognition by Miami University for “extraordinary contributions related to teaching, research, and service”. He has had faculty appointments as professor of biology at the

(2012–16) and the University of North Carolina Greensboro (2016–2024) and had an active research laboratory while serving as dean at both universities. John Z

His higher education leadership and academic research continues as provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Florida Institute of Technology.

Research

Kiss' research focuses on

plants in space The growth of plants in outer space has elicited much scientific interest. In the late 20th and early 21st century, plants were often taken into space in low Earth orbit to be grown in a weightless but pressurized controlled environment, sometime ...

, specifically how gravity and light responses influence each other in plants. His work seeks to understand the cellular signaling mechanisms involved in plant

tropism In biology, a tropism is a phenomenon indicating the growth or turning movement of an organism, usually a plant, in response to an environmental stimulus (physiology), stimulus. In tropisms, this response is dependent on the direction of the s ...

s—directed plant movement and growth in response to external stimuli. Early in his career, Kiss focused on the cellular mechanisms that mediate

. In addition, he is interested in how plants adapt to

weightlessness Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...

and low-gravity environments, which is important for determining the ability of plants to provide a complete, sustainable, and dependable means for human life support in space. Kiss was the principal investigator or co-investigator on nine spaceflight projects on the

, the

, and the Blue Origin

New Shepard New Shepard is a Reusable launch vehicle, fully reusable Sub-orbital spaceflight, sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, who became the List of space travelers by nationali ...

vehicle. His major collaborators on these space projects included Richard E. Edelmann from Miami University and F. Javier Medina from Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC) in Spain. This spaceflight research contributed to the discovery of a novel red-light sensing mechanism involved in

phototropism In biology, phototropism is the growth of an organism in response to a light stimulus. Phototropism is most often observed in plants, but can also occur in other organisms such as fungi. The cells on the plant that are farthest from the ligh ...

of flowering plants. Kiss also was one of the first scientists to study plant behavior at fractional or reduced gravity on the ISS. Kiss and his coworkers have contributed toward understanding the effects of microgravity/reduced gravity on transcription and gene expression in plants.

Outreach

In 2019, Kiss gave a

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

talk on the importance of plants for a human mission to Mars. In 2020, he was interviewed on the Interplanetary Podcast and the Orbital Mechanics Podcast to discuss his work as a plant space biologist. In 2025, Kiss was interviewed on the WMFE-FM
Are We There Yet?
' podcast to discuss the

Blue Origin Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is an American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own ...

experiment.

Spaceflight missions

Summary of the spaceflight projects flown on vehicles in low Earth orbit with John Z. Kiss serving as the principal investigator or co-investigator:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiss, John Z. 1960 births Living people 20th-century American botanists 21st-century American botanists Space scientists Hungarian emigrants to the United States People from Szeged Georgetown University alumni Rutgers University alumni Hofstra University faculty Miami University faculty University of Mississippi faculty University of North Carolina at Greensboro faculty