From Dateline (March 13, 2003)
NASA Representative
to Discuss Space Station, Columbia Tragedy; Honor Tuskegee
Airmen
by Dave Reid
NASA’s research on the International Space Station
will be the subject of a 4 p.m. March 21 presentation by Willie
B. Williams, NASA research program manager, of the International
Space Station Payloads Office. He will also address changes to the
research plan as a result of the Columbia shuttle accident.
During the presentation, Williams will honor two of
the original members of the Tuskegee Airmen, Mitchell Higginbotham
and Robert Friend of Orange County. The Tuskegee Airmen were a black
fighter aircraft group that fought in World War II. They were known
as the Redtail Angels because of their custom-painted P-47 and P-51
fighter planes.
The talk, sponsored by the Office of Grants &
Contracts, the Faculty Development Center and the CSUF Foundation,
will be held in Pavilion A in the Titan Student Union. The program
is free and open to the public.
During his visit to campus, Williams will meet with
deans, faculty and staff members from the colleges of Natural Sciences
and Engineering and Computer Science and to review NASA grant opportunities
and other programs.
“We look forward to Willie Williams becoming
acquainted with our faculty and students through lively discussions
about their research interests and how those interest match with
various NSAS enterprises; he will also view our research and other
facilities, said Linda Patton, director of the Office of Grants
and Contracts, which arranged for the visit.
Williams is research program manager of the ISS Payloads
Office and a Fellow of the NASA Administrator’s Fellowship
Program. His research interests are software engineering, telecommunications
and information technology.
His assignment as a NAFP fellow includes participating
in developing and testing different designs and other applications
for use on the space station.
|