Astronaut Bonnie J. Dunbar, Johnson Space Center assistant director for
university research, has been elected to membership in the National Academy
of Engineers (NAE). The induction is among the highest professional honors
for engineers.

Induction recognizes individuals who have made “important contributions to
engineering theory and practice, including significant contributions to the
literature.” It also honors engineers who have achieved “unusual
accomplishments in the pioneering of new and developing fields of
technology,” the NAE said.

Dunbar was cited for “personal leadership and significant career
contributions to engineering design problems in human space flight and to
on-orbit operations.” She was among 74 engineers elected to membership in
the class of 2002. Seven new foreign associates also were named.

“We are gratified that Dr. Dunbar has been selected for this prestigious
recognition,” said Jefferson D. Howell Jr., Johnson Space Center director.
“Her election is well deserved. It reflects not only her own considerable
competence, but also is a high compliment to the people with whom she has
worked.”

Dunbar said: “I am proud to be an engineer and am grateful for the
opportunity to practice this time-honored profession. I can think of no
higher honor as an engineer than to be selected to the NAE.” She said she
must share the honor of her selection “with the many mentors and colleagues
over the years in industry, academia, and at NASA.”

Born in Sunnyside, Wash., she received a B.S. in 1971 and an M.S. in 1975 in
ceramic engineering from the University of Washington. She earned her
doctorate in mechanical/biomedical engineering from the University of
Houston in 1983, where she served as an adjunct assistant professor of
mechanical engineering.

After she received her bachelor’s degree, she worked for Boeing Computer
Services for two years as a systems analyst. In 1975, she was invited to
participate in research at Harwell Laboratories in Oxford, England, as a
visiting scientist. Subsequently she accepted a senior research engineer
position with Rockwell International Space Division in Downey, Calif. She
was named Rockwell Space Division Engineer of the Year for 1977 for
contributions to development of equipment and processes for manufacture of
the space shuttle thermal protection system.

She is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, an elected foreign member
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and has been awarded five honorary
doctorates. She also is a licensed professional engineer in Texas.

Dunbar joined NASA as a payload officer/flight controller at Johnson Space
Center in 1978 for the Skylab re-entry mission and was subsequently
designated project officer/payload officer for the integration of several
space shuttle payloads.

She was selected as an astronaut in 1980. After technical assignments which
included assisting in verification of shuttle flight software at the Shuttle
Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), serving as a member of the Flight
Crew Equipment Control Board, and helping in operational develop the
shuttle’s robotic arm, she became Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of
Life and Microgravity Sciences, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., in
1993.

Beginning in February 1994, she spent 13 months training as a backup
crewmember for a three-month flight on the Russian space station Mir.

During her spaceflight career, which spanned five shuttle missions, she
remained active in engineering design programs and edited a 1983 book,
“Materials Processing in Space,” for the American Ceramic Society. In 1987
Dunbar chaired the NASA Microgravity Materials Processing Task Force, which
recommended a flight program for microgravity research, and the development
of specialized equipment for that research. That research contributed to
development of the STS-50 mission in 1992 on which she was payload
commander.

She was instrumental in the design and development of several on-orbit
research facilities and orbital research operational protocols. She led the
effort to develop specific criteria for identifying on-orbit laboratory
safety rules.

The NAE was established in 1964 under the charter of the National Academy of
Sciences as an organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in
its administration and in the selection of its members. It shares with the
National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal
government. It also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national
needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior
achievements of engineers. NAE has 2,107 members in the United States and
158 foreign associates.