Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar

Born: 1949

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

University of Washington BS 1971 & MS 1975 both in Ceramics Engineering; University of Houston PhD Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering 1983

""There's no edge," she says. "We really won’t know what’s out there until we explore, and we need to do that" (historylink.org); "When we went to the Moon 40 years ago, the whole world watched," she says. "We should be proud that we invested so much into education, technology, and the industries we have today. It has benefited our society and improved our quality of life. We should never underestimate the role that science and technology has had in every major civilization since the dawn of time." The fundamental question, she adds, is this: "Are we a space-faring nation or are we not? If you’re saying no, then let the sun set on our civilization. We'll sit back and be a nation of watchers and not doers" (historylink.org); "I just don't see obstacles," she says, matter-of-factly. "I see challenges" (historylink.org); "The real world can be tough, and exacting, and you have to live up to certain standards, and I learned from that. Not everybody is going to be your supporter. You just live with that. And ignore them" (historylink.org); "Death is a part of life. And you have to have grief and you grieve, but you have to move on or you can’t function" (historylink.org); "I lost a lot of friends on Challenger, I lost friends on Columbia, I lost friends who were test pilots in California ... . But a whole lot more people die in automobile accidents, needlessly, in this country. The one thing I know is that the people doing this, myself included, we have a reason to be taking that risk. It’s for the nation, it’s for exploration, and to honor that memory you don’t stop" (historylink.org); "Right now the budget for human space flight in the United States of America is less than one-half of 1 percent. Women spend more on cosmetics for reducing the effects of age than they do on NASA’s budget. I think it’s an unintentional decision by the American taxpayers to pay more for cosmetics than for human space exploration. No nation has suffered because they explored, but nations have suffered when they cease to explore, because exploration is about innovation." (historylink.org); “when you grow up farming and ranching, you are doing science and engineering,” Dunbar continued. “You learn to understand and respect the weather, understand soil chemistry and geology in order to grow the best crops and gardens, learn biology from assisting animals give birth, and b o t a n y f r o m f a r m i n g . Y o u learn the properby Trudy E. Bell © 2013 Trudy E. Bell ties of materials, such as the difference between conductors and insulators: we had electric fences, and if you didn’t want to get shocked, you learned to hold down the fence with a wooden stick and not a metal bar when you walked over it.” (tbp.org); "

— Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar

Field of Study: Engineering; Astronaut

Institution/Corporation: Boeing; Rockwell International; NASA; Museum of Flight in Seattle; University of Houston; Texas A&M University; University of Washington

Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Doctor of Laws from Clemson University (1990); Honorary Doctor of Science from Clarkson University (1993); Honorary of Engineering from Alfred University (1991), Michigan Technological University (1992), Heriot-Watt University (2000), University of Glasgow (2002), University of Dundee (2002), University of Strathclyde (2014) and Rowan University (2015); and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Heritage University (2016); Member: Board of Directors, Arnold Air Society and Angel Flight / Silver Wings; American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Ceramic Society (ACerS); American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); Fellow (2006) American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); Association of Space Explorers (ASE); Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES); Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA; International Academy of Astronautics (IAF); Kappa Delta sorority; Keramos; Materials Research Society (MRS); National Academy of Engineering, Member (2002); National Institute of Ceramic Engineers (NICE); National Science Foundation (NSF); Engineering Advisory Board, 1993; Royal Aeronautical Society, fellow (2008); Royal Society of Edinburgh, corresponding Fellow (2001); Society of Women Engineers (SWE); Tau Beta Pi; Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (2004); Washington State Academy of Science (2006);

Awards: 2020 Sigma Xi John P. McGovern Science & Society Award; 2018 George R. Stibitz Computer and Communications Award; 2018 Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award; 2015 BioHouston Women of Science Award; 2013 Elected to Astronaut Hall of Fame; 2012 University of Washington College of Engineering Diamond Service Award; 2011 American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) Norm Augustine Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Communications; 2010 ASME Ralph Coats Roe Medal; 2009 Elected to Living Legends of Aviation, California; 2007 Washington State Medal of Merit (Governor's Award); 2006 Society of Women Engineers (SWE) National Achievement Award; 2005 ACerS Annual Meeting in Baltimore - Orton Lecture awardee; 2005 Arthur Friedberg Award, National Institute of Ceramic Engineers (NICE) Ceramic Engineering; 2000 The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) James I. Mueller Award, Cocoa Beach, Florida; 2000 Inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame; 2000 Selected as one of the top 20 women in technology in Houston, Texas; 1985, 1990, 1995,1998 NASA Space Flight Medals; 1997 NASA Superior Accomplishment Award; 1994 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal;1996 & 1999 NASA Distinguished Service Medal; 1993 NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal;1988 NASA Exceptional Service Medal; 1993 Design News Engineering Achievement Award;1993 IEEE Judith A. Resnik Award; 1993 Society of Women Engineers Resnik Challenger Medal;1992 Museum of Flight Pathfinder Award; 1992 AAES National Engineering Award; 1991 University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Alumna Award;1990 M.R.S. President's Award; 1990 The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) Schwaltzwalder P.A.C.E. Award; 1989 University of Washington Engineering Alumni Achievement;1986 The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) Life Membership; 1986 General Jimmy Doolittle Fellow of the Aerospace Education Foundation; 1986 Evergreen Safety Council Public Service in Space Award; 1985 The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) Greaves-Walker Award; 1978 Rockwell International Engineer of the Year;

Achievements: designed the equipment and manufacturing processes used to fabricate the ceramic tiles used in the Space Shuttle thermal protection system; was a guidance and navigation controller for Skylab during its de-orbiting and re-entry in July 1979; researched the kinetics of ionic diffusion in sodium beta-alumina as a graduate student; after graduating from her Master's program researched the wetting behavior of liquids on solid substrates as a visiting scientist in England; was a guidance and navigation controller for Skylab and monitored its de-orbiting and re-entry in July 1979; was chairman of NASA's Microgravity Materials Science Assessment Task Force, which examined proposals for materials science experiments with Spacelab and the proposed Space Station Freedom; was the principal investigator of the Microgravity Disturbance Experiment using the Fluids Experiment Apparatus; 1993 became the Deputy Associate Administrator in the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.; February 1994 she traveled to Star City, Russia, where she spent thirteen months in training to be a back-up Mir crew member; founded the Washington Aerospace Scholars program, an online distance learning course for high school juniors run in partnership with NASA and Washington state; chaired a nationwide panel on what kind of microgravity research could be done on future shuttle flights and it led to a series of NASA-funded Spacelab flights in the 1990s; flew on the Challenger, Atlantis, Endeavour, and Columbia space shuttles; operated Spacelab, deployed satellites, and performed human medical studies on exercise and muscle performance;