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.