A Sense Of Mission: Leadership Lessons From Space

New Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2021*

Former NASA Astronaut and Air Force Colonel Cady Coleman is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions and a six-month expedition on the International Space Station (ISS). A chemist with a doctorate in polymer science and engineering, Coleman is a pioneer in the research of materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, and fluid physics.

With 180 days in space accumulated during three missions, Dr. Coleman acted as the Lead Robotics and Lead Science officer aboard the ISS, performing the second-ever robotic capture of a supply ship from the station. In her spare time, she coached actress Sandra Bullock from the ISS in preparation for Bullock’s astronaut role in the movie Gravity.

On the ground at NASA, Cady served in a variety of roles within the Astronaut Office, including Chief of Robotics, lead for tile repair efforts after the Columbia accident, and lead astronaut for integration of supply ships from NASA’s commercial partners Space X, Orbital ATK, and Northrup Grumman. As a volunteer test subject for the centrifuge program at the Armstrong Aeromedical Lab, Dr. Coleman set several human endurance/tolerance records while performing physiological and new equipment studies.

A research affiliate at the MIT Media Lab and Global Explorer in Residence at Arizona State University, Coleman is an advisor to Earthrise Media, a company utilizing photographs of earth from space to provide educational tools as well as context and perspective for environmental and social justice issues. She serves on several boards, including the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Greenfield Community College, Dent the Future, and Skycatch, an innovative A.I. company that uses drones to provide decision-making data.

*Out of concern for our family of subscribers and with the increasing cases of Coronavirus in Oregon, VOICES Lectures featuring DR. CADY COLEMAN is rescheduled to April 28, 2021.