This Is AuburnCalendar of Events

Submit an Event (See the POLICIES ON POSTING EVENTS.)

 

September 15, 2017
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Atrium at the Alumni Center

Now in its sixth year, the This is Auburn Speaker Series features presentations and discussion of topics that make Auburn a vibrant and engaging university. Join us on football Friday afternoons at 3 p.m. at the Alumni Center to learn more about Auburn’s people, history, sports and other programs.
 
 
Jan Davis ’77
Former NASA Astronaut
An Auburn Astronaut: My Journey into Space
This event is presented in conjunction with Auburn University Libraries’ Discover Auburn Women of Distinction, a lecture series celebrating 125 Years of Auburn Women (1892-2017).
 
Jan Davis is a former American astronaut who has logged more than 670 hours and orbited the earth 325 times on three Space Shuttle flights. Davis joined NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville in 1979 as an aerospace engineer. In 1987, she was selected to join the Astronaut corps at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Davis held many leadership positions with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, before retiring from the agency in 2005. She continues to work with Gastion Technologies, a NASA contractor at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
She did her graduate research work in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and is a 1971 graduate of Huntsville High School. She earned bachelor’s degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Auburn University in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, respectively.
Davis was elected to both the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame and the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame and is active on the Auburn Engineering Alumni Council. In 2002, she was given the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive. She has received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, Space Medal, and Outstanding Leadership Medal.
In 2012, she received Auburn University’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is married to Judge Dick Richardson, judge for the District Court of Madison County, and has two children. She speaks frequently on topics related to space and science.