The Wildwood Institute for STEM Research and Development (WISRD) invites everyone interested in topics relating to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to the spring WISRD Community Poster Presentation and Lecture Series.
- Date: May 8
- Location: Wildwood School middle and upper campus – 11811 Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles 90064
- 6:30 p.m. Poster Session: Featuring current WISRD student research and projects
- 7:30 p.m. Lecture: Dr. Marc Rayman
Dr. Marc Rayman is the director and chief engineer for NASA’s Dawn mission, the only spacecraft ever to orbit two extraterrestrial destinations. Launched in 2007, Dawn has orbited the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter (protoplanet Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres), in an ambitious mission to reveal insights into the dawn of the solar system.
Dr. Rayman earned his B.A. in physics from Princeton University (focused on astrophysics and cosmology) and an M.S. in physics from the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he conducted investigations in nuclear physics. He has been published in more than 60 technical publications in physics, space science, and space engineering.
Dr. Rayman worked as chief mission engineer, mission director, and project manager on Deep Space 1 (DS1) from its inception in 1995 to its conclusion in 2011. The first mission of this New Millennium program, technologies used in DS1 were designed to reduce the cost and risk and to improve the performance of subsequent interplanetary missions. The spacecraft remains in orbit around the Sun. Now he is both mission director and chief engineer on a mission that built on DS1 to explore the two largest uncharted worlds in the inner solar system.
Marc is also very active in education and public outreach and is technical advisor and a popular writer for NASA’s educational website the Space Place. His many accolades from NASA include three Exceptional Achievement Medals and three Outstanding Leadership Medals. He was named a JPL Fellow “for extraordinary technical contributions made over an extended period.” He is the only person to have received both the Exceptional Technical Excellence Award and the Exceptional Leadership Award, two of JPL’s most prestigious honors.
On behalf of the Dawn team, in 2016 he accepted the Robert J. Collier Trophy, the most prestigious award in the US for space or aviation. In 2017, he received Astronautics Engineer Award by the National Space Club and Foundation.
