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Lt. Col. Pamela Melroy Also to Meet Former Physics Teacher, Now at Iona

New Rochelle, N.Y., April 8 - Lt. Col. Pamela Melroy, USAF, who is scheduled to pilot the Space Shuttle Discovery on a mission in February 2000, will discuss the International Space Station at 11 am on Tuesday, April 27 in Joyce Auditorium, Murphy Science and Technology Center, Iona College, 715 North Avenue. The event is free and open to the public; teachers are welcome to bring students, but advance notice of any groups planning to attend is requested. Melroy' s presentation is part of the continuing Thomas G. Bullen, CFC Lecture Series in Science and Technology sponsored by ARC Networks.

The February 2000 mission, officially designated STS-92, will be the third Space Shuttle mission to carry pieces for assembly of the International Space Station. The entire assembly process is expected to take more than a year, but the completed station is expected to yield significant scientific data. Melroy will also discuss astronaut training and the future of human space exploration in her presentation.

Melroy, 37, was born in Palo Alto, Calif., but grew up in Rochester, N.Y. She graduated from Bishop Kearny High School in Rochester and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in physics and astronomy from Wellesley College in 1983 and a Master of Science Degree in earth and planetary science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984. Commissioned through the Air Force ROTC program in 1983, Melroy graduated pilot training 1985 and for the next six years served as a copilot, aircraft commander and instructor pilot at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, La. She is a veteran of military operations Just Cause and Desert Shield/Desert Storm with over 200 hours of combat and combat support flying.

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in December 1994, Melroy began training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in March 1995. STS-92 will be her first flight as an astronaut.
Directed by Dr. Victor Stanionis, the Bullen Lecture Series is now in its 10th year of bringing leaders from the world of science and technology to share their views at Iona College. To date, 39 speakers have appeared at Iona; 16 of them have received the Nobel Prize. Lt. Col. Melroy is the final guest lecturer of the 1998-99 school year.

In addition to her presentation, Melroy will also have the chance to meet with Bro. Wright, her high school physics teacher who is now retired and volunteers at the Samuel Rudin Academic Resource Center at Iona College.

For further information or to register a group, call (914) 633-2276.

For questions or more information please contact:
Meghan Finn
Public Relations Office
Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801
tel: 914 633-2005 fax: 914 637-2711

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