September 2, 2005

Astronaut Janice Voss to speak, motivate women engineers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Astronaut Janice Voss, a Purdue alumna, will visit Purdue on Thursday (Sept. 8) to give motivational presentations for first-year women engineering students.

Her talk, "My Life as an Astronaut," will take place during a class at 10:30 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m. in Room B12 of the Materials and Electrical Engineering Building. About 60 students will attend each class.

Voss, who became an astronaut in 1991, has flown on five space missions, including a February 2000 radar-mapping mission aboard the space shuttle Endeavour.

Voss earned a bachelor's degree in engineering science from Purdue in 1975, a master's of science degree in electrical engineering and a doctoral degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977 and 1987, respectively.

The Women in Engineering Program was established in 1969 to provide educational enhancement activities for women interested in careers in engineering. The program includes pre-college outreach and recruiting activities and a number of initiatives aimed at recruiting and retaining both undergraduate and graduate women.

Enrollment of women in the Purdue College of Engineering is 19 percent, and the college has granted more than 8,000 engineering degrees to women in its history.

Writers: Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, evenere@purdue

Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu

Source: Janine Reklaitis, Women in Engineering Program associate director, (765) 494-3889, jrek@ecn.purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Journalists are invited to attend either class. Please contact Emil Venere at (765) 494-4709, evenere@purdue.edu; or Cynthia Sequin at (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu for more information.

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