Stein Bayer Seminar in Polymer Chemistry
Alumna Cady Coleman will present a seminar, "Getting Material Science off the Ground." Dr. Coleman is a NASA Astronaut and Colonel in the United States Air Force. In her seminar, Dr. Coleman will share her perspective as a scientist-astronaut on past, present, and future Material Science experiments in space. In the microgravity environment about the space station, scientists can further develop fundamental concepts in physics, chemistry, and material science that are normally cloaked by the effects of gravity. Coleman will discuss some of the ongoing investigations aboard the ISS in fluid physics, supercritical fluids, colloid science, crystallization, and combustion. She’ll also describe her training in preparation for her launch in November 2010 on a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan.
Dr. Coleman received her B.S. in Chemistry from MIT in 1983 and was then commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Air Force. In 1988, Coleman entered active duty and was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where she served as a research chemist at the Materials Directorate of the Wright Laboratory, synthesizing model compounds for optical applications such as advanced computers and data storage. She also acted as a surface analysis consultant for the Long Duration Exposure Facility, and volunteered as a test subject for the centrifuge program at the Crew Systems Directorate of the Armstrong Aeromedical Laboratory, where she set several endurance and tolerance records during her participation in physiological and new equipment studies. Dr. Coleman received a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1991. She has since flown two Space Shuttle missions and is preparing for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station.
This event is sponsored by the Bayer Corporation, in honor of Professor Richard Stein, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry.
