The Board of Directors for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) today announced it has designated Lt. General James A. Abrahamson as the group’s Chairman. CASIS is the nonprofit organization tasked with promoting and managing research onboard the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory.

As Chairman, Abrahamson will serve as the CASIS Board spokesperson, and will preside over future Board meetings. Before Lt. Gen. Abrahamson’s designation, Dr. Lewis Duncan, President of Rollins College, served as the interim Chairman for the CASIS Board of Directors.

Abrahamson is widely regarded as one of the more distinguished and decorated military program leaders of the 20th century. Lt. Gen. Abrahamson began his military career as a fighter pilot in Vietnam and was ultimately selected for the Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory (program was later cancelled). After his time as a pilot and astronaut candidate, Lt. Gen. Abrahamson ascended to multiple key Air Force and NASA staff positions, including being assigned NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Flight. Additionally, in 1984, upon the request of President Reagan, Lt. Gen. Abrahamson served as the first Director for the Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars Program”) until his retirement from service in 1989. Since his retirement, Abrahamson has kept active, maintaining leadership positions within a variety of aviation industry companies, and serving on the Board of Directors for GeoEye Corporation and Global Relief Technologies.

“I am honored to preside over the CASIS Board of Directors and look forward to working alongside staff in our pursuit to fully utilize the ISS U.S. National Laboratory,” said Abrahamson. “The incredible progress that this organization has made in just under three years demonstrates their unending dedication to supporting science in space for life on Earth. I welcome the opportunity to use my aerospace and business experience to help push this organization to even greater heights.”

“Lt. General Abrahamson’s diverse background is a major asset to the CASIS Board of Directors,” said President and Executive Director Gregory H. Johnson. “During his time serving on the CASIS Board of Directors, Lt. General Abrahamson has been instrumental in the development of partnerships and flight project opportunities. Lt. General Abrahamson is a perfect candidate to lead an already stellar group of academic and business-minded professionals intent on bringing great research and technology development to the ISS National Lab.” 

Additional members of the CASIS Board of Directors include: 

Bess Dawson-Hughes, M.D., Director, Bone Metabolism Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University

Lewis Duncan, Ph.D., President, Rollins College

Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder & President, Institute for Systems Biology

Joseph Formichelli, Director/Supervisor, Celsia Technologies Taiwan

Ioannis (Yannis) Miaoulis, Ph.D., President and Director, Museum of Science, Boston

Andrei E. Ruckenstein, Ph.D., Vice President Research & Associate Provost, Boston University

Philip Schein, M.D., President, Schein Group, Inc.

Carolyn Ticknor, Former President, Hewlett-Packard Imaging & Printing

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Ph.D., Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Medicine, Director of the Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Columbia University

Howard Zucker, M.D., J.D., Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University

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