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Tennessee Tech honors alumni who have contributed to space exploration
On Saturday, Tennessee Tech’s Crawford Alumni Center hosted a NASA Celebration to
honor the university’s many alumni who have contributed to space exploration.
More than 200 Tech graduates in engineering, mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry, geology, sociology and business have worked for NASA, and hundreds of other graduates have worked for NASA contractors.
“The connection between Tennessee Tech and space exploration goes way back,” said Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham. “President Kennedy was right when he declared that we’re not going to the moon because it’s easy. We are going because it’s hard. I am proud that so many Tech alumni answered that call and put yourself in a situation to do something remarkable. It took hundreds of thousands of individuals doing their part to make it possible. Those are great lessons for us today as well: Take on challenges, do things not because they are easy but because they are hard and do it together. That tradition continues at Tennessee Tech.”
Joseph C. Slater, dean of Tech’s College of Engineering, hosted the event. Slater served as a NASA fellow and has long had a passion for space exploration and aerospace engineering.
“Today is a day to celebrate NASA, to celebrate space exploration, ingenuity, taking a risk, finding a solution – in short, making something work,” said Slater. “I cannot thank our NASA alumni enough for endeavoring to do something never done before, for taking a risk and for making Tech proud.”
Lieutenant General Don Rodgers, `57 electrical engineering, and June Scobee Rodgers served as the event’s keynote speakers.
In 1986, General Don Rodgers was nominated by President Ronald Reagan for assignment as the Army’s assistant chief of staff for information management, and he served as director of information systems for command, control, communications and computers. As the commander of the largest military organization of its kind in the world, General Rodgers led a workforce of 50,000 personnel in more than a dozen overseas nations and throughout the United States.
General Rodgers reflected on his time at Tech and says he remembers it like it was yesterday.
“In 1957, the campus consisted of the quadrangle, a shop where we took two or three of our classes and the heating plant where we had thermodynamics,” he said. “It was a pretty small campus. Now, I can’t even find my way around! Tech has meant everything to me. It changed my life – overnight. I daresay I wouldn’t have had my career or my family without Tech.”
June Scobee Rodgers is the widow of Challenger Space Shuttle Commander Richard “Dick” Scobee. She founded Challenger Center for Space Science Education to foster a new generation of “star challengers” – young people who will reach for the stars no matter their circumstances. Each year, Challenger Learning Centers engage hundreds of thousands of students and tens of thousands of teachers in dynamic, hands-on exploration and discovery opportunities that strengthen their knowledge in science, technology, engineering and math. Rodgers is also the author of Silver Linings: My Life Before and After Challenger 7.
“I coined a motto for myself called the ABCs,” she said. “The ‘A’ stood for attitude. Accept your problems for challenges. ‘B’ was for belief. Believe in a power greater than yourself. ‘C’ was courage – courage and confidence to make a commitment and work through it. And lo and behold, when I was looking at Tech’s website, I saw a very similar motto – Tennessee Tech’s motto: Bold, Fearless and Confident.”
In addition to General and Rodgers, more than a dozen Tech alumni and faculty shared their NASA stories.
Leon Davis, `69 electrical engineering, showed photos of the NASA projects he worked on, including Apollo 11 through 17, Skylab 1 through 3, five Shuttle test flight missions and 114 Space Shuttle launch missions. Davis worked on a total of 130 flight missions at Kennedy Space Center during his 36-year career.
Rachel Killebrew, `64 mathematics, described being plucked from a Tech mathematics class because NASA was looking for students majoring in math and German. They needed someone who could communicate with the German team, and Killebrew was hired to develop the checkout and launch computer programs for the Apollo and Saturn missions at Kennedy Space Center.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better job, and it would never have happened if they hadn’t come to get me out of class that day,” she said. “I owe Tech my entire career.”
Gerry Gannod, chair of Tech’s Department of Computer Science, worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a NASA Research Fellow from 1994-97 and as a NASA Faculty Fellow in 1999. He was a member of the Software Assurance team and focused on formal validation of ground-based systems and space interferometry systems, including many NASA telescopes.
The final NASA Celebration guest demonstrated what happens when thousands of NASA employees – some of the greatest minds on earth -- come together: They send men and women into space. Astronaut Barry Wilmore, `85 electrical engineering, `94 M.S, and `12 honorary doctorate, described what it was like being launched into space for the first time.
“Picture this,” said Wilmore. “I’m strapped into the seat. I’m weightless. I’m looking out the window, and it’s the blackest black you’ve ever seen. And I see thousands of water droplet diamonds illuminated by the sun. And honestly my thought was, ‘Why me?’ How many people would have loved to be sitting in that seat, experiencing all of this, and guess who it was? It was me. It was one of the most humbling moments of my professional career.”
Whether Tech alumni found NASA or NASA recruited them, the alumni in attendance said their college education helped prepare them for their careers.
“One thing has been repeated throughout this event, and that’s the gratitude that many of you directed towards Tennessee Tech, the president, the provost and the faculty,” said Slater. “We are grateful for that, but we are also humbled. You inspire us and remind us that what we are doing is creating the next great generation.”
