NASA ASTRONAUT TO SPEAK AT ENGINEERING AWARDS BANQUET
4/12/2000
AMES, Iowa-NASA astronaut Dr. Sandra H. Magnus will be the special guest speaker at the Materials Science and Engineering Spring Awards Banquet/ Industrial Advisory Council Dinner on Thursday, April 20, from 6-9 p.m. in the Scheman Building, Iowa State Center.
In the tradition of two other women astronauts-Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, who in recent years have inspired the public with lectures at Iowa State University-Magnus will speak about the international space station.
Selected by NASA in 1996, Magnus began her career at the Johnson Space Center with two years of training and evaluation to qualify as a mission specialist for flight assignments.
Magnus worked in the Astronaut Office Payloads/Habitability Branch for a period of time in collaboration with space agencies in Europe, Japan and Brazil, researching science freezers, glove boxes and other facility type payloads used in space flight missions.
Currently, Magnus is assigned as a consultant to the Russian space program in the area of hardware testing and operational products development.
A graduate of Belleville West High School, Belleville, Illinois, Magnus received a bachelor's degree in physics (1986) and a master's in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1990. She went on to complete her doctorate in 1996 at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.
While still a graduate student, Magnus gained professional experience with McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company as a stealth engineer, where she worked on internal research and development, studying the effect of radar signature reduction techniques.
Magnus has also worked on propulsion systems as part of the U.S. Navy A-12 Attack Aircraft program. Her doctoral thesis, supported by a fellowship through the NASA-Lewis Research Center, involved identifying compounds for potential use in "Scandate" thermionic cathodes.
The awards banquet will recognize 31 MSE students, who have received scholarships for the 2000-2001 academic year. The banquet hosts scholarship donors, recipients and their parents and MSE faculty and advisory council members.
Reservations are required for this event. For information contact Carmen G. Neri (515) 294-0741 or email carmengn@iastate.edu by Monday, April 17.
