The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS) has announced former NASA astronaut, engineer, and educator Dr. Bonnie Dunbar will be their featured guest speaker at the annual banquet during the 2019 Coordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC), July 22 – 26, 2019. The event will be held at Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida.  Dr. Dunbar is currently a TEES distinguished research professor, department of aerospace engineering, at Texas A&M University.  She is the director of the Institute for Engineering Education Innovation (IEEI). In 2013, Dunbar was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and is highly decorated receiving the NASA Space Flight Medal five times, the NASA Exceptional Leadership Medal and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. For the past year, the CMS has paid tribute to women who have played a key role, past and present, in the history of metrology.  The CMS is excited to welcome Dr. Dunbar as their very special guest. 

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Dubar came to Texas A&M from the University of Houston where she was an M.D. anderson professor of mechanical engineering. There she provided leadership in the development of a new integrated university science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) center and was director of the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston. She was also director of the master’s program in aerospace engineering directed the SICSA Space Architecture and Aerospace graduate programs. Dunbar holds bachelor and master degrees in ceramic engineering from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in mechanical/biomedical engineering from the University of Houston. 

Dunbar worked for The Rockwell International Space Division Company building Space Shuttle Columbia and then worked for 27 years at NASA, first as a flight controller; then as a mission specialist astronaut, where she flew five space shuttle flights, logging more than 50 days in space. She then served for 7 years as a member of the NASA Senior Executive Service (SES). Her executive service included assistant NASA JSC director for university research; deputy director for Flight Crew Operations; associate director for ISS Mission Operations development, and as NASA headquarters deputy associate administrator for the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications (OLMSA). She also served as part of the Challenger Space Shuttle accident investigation team.