50th Anniversary Symposium

The biennial symposium enables fellows to connect, share interests, and explore opportunities to collaborate.

Norman R. Augustine is the retired Chairman and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. He previously served as Under Secretary of the Army and chaired the Review of the United States Human Space Flight Committee. He also chaired the committee which produced the National Academies’ report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” prepared in response to the following question: “What are the top 10 actions, in priority order, that federal policymakers could take to enhance the science and technology enterprise so that the US can successfully compete, prosper, and be secure in the global community of the 21st century?” Mr. Augustine holds 29 honorary degrees and was selected by Who’s Who in America and the Library of Congress as one of “Fifty Great Americans” on the occasion of Who’s Who’s 50th anniversary.

Dr. Alice P. Gast (Hertz Fellow 1980, Princeton, Chemical Engineering) the thirteenth President of Lehigh University, is a renowned leader in higher education and a distinguished researcher in the study of surface and interfacial phenomena. She is co-author of PhysicalChemistry of Surfaces, a classic textbook on colloid and surface phenomena, and has presented named lectures at several of the nation’s leading research institutions. In 2010, Dr. Gast was named to the prestigious post of Science Envoy by the U.S. State Department. Additionally, she is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2012, Dr. Gast was appointed to the board of directors of Chevron Corporation. Before coming to Lehigh, Dr. Gast was Vice President for Research and Associate Provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to that, she was a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University.

John C. Mather (Hertz Fellow 1970, UC Berkeley, Physics) won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) with George Smoot. This work helped cement the big-bang theory of the universe. John is an astrophysicist and cosmologist who received his BA in Physics from Swarthmore College and, as a Hertz Fellow, received his PhD from University of California, Berkeley. In 2007, Mather was listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In October 2012, he was listed again by Time Magazine in a special issue on “New Space Discoveries” as one of 25 most influential people in space. Mather is the project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, a space telescope to be launched to L2 no earlier than 2018.

Kenneth R. Miller is Professor of Biology at Brown University. A cell biologist, he serves as an advisor on life sciences to the NewsHour, a daily PBS television program on news and public affairs, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Miller is coauthor, with Joseph S. Levine, of a series of high school and college biology textbooks used by millions of students nationwide. In 2005 he served as lead witness in the trial on evolution and intelligent design in Dover, Pennsylvania. His popular book, Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution, addresses the scientific status of evolutionary theory and its relationship to religious views of nature. His latest book, Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul, addresses the continuing struggle over how evolution is to be understood in American society. His honors include the Presidential Citation of the American Institute of Biological Science (2005), the Public Service Award of the American Society for Cell Biology (2006), the Distinguished Service Award of the National Association of Biology teachers (2008), and the Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award from AAAS (2009). Most recently, the Society for the Study of Evolution recognized Dr. Miller with the 2011 Stephen Jay Gould Prize for advancing the public understanding of evolution.

Ellen M. Pawlikowski, Lieutenant General USAF (Hertz Fellow 1979, UC Berkeley, Chemical Engineering) is the first woman to assume command of the Space and Missile Systems Center at the Los Angeles Air Force Base. She is responsible for more than 5,000 employees nationwide and an annual budget of $10 billion. As the Air Force Program Executive Officer for Space, General Pawlikowski manages the research, design, development, acquisition, and sustainment of satellites and the associated command and control systems. Her extensive portfolio includes military satellite communication, missile warning, navigation and timing, space-based weather, space launch and test ranges, certification for launch, space superiority, responsive space and other emerging evolutionary space programs. She has previously served as Commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, managing the scientific research and development operations of the Air Force.