Commencement

UCSB KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr. Leroy Chiao
NASA Astronaut
UCSB, Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 1987

Astronaut Leroy Chiao, Ph.D., entrepreneur, distinguished chair professor, and the first American to vote in a presidential election from space will serve as the Graduate Division's keynote commencement speaker. Dr. Chiao left NASA in December, 2005 following a fifteen-year career with the agency. A veteran of four space missions, Dr. Chiao most recently served as Commander and NASA Science Officer of Expedition 10 aboard the International Space Station. With this mission Dr. Chiao became the first Asian American and ethnic Chinese Mission Commander. While at NASA, he logged over 229 days in space- over 36 hours of which were spent in Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA, or spacewalks). He has flown space missions and worked closely with Russian, Japanese and European astronauts and their affiliated space agencies.

Dr. Chiao has extensive experience as a NASA astronaut and prior to that, as a research engineer. Involved in entrepreneurial business ventures and work in the US, China, Japan and Russia, he is an Executive VP and a Director of Excalibur Almaz, a private manned spaceflight company. In addition, he is a Director of InNexus, a biotechnology/pharmaceutical development company. Dr. Chiao is also the first Raborn Distinguished Chair Max Faget Mechanical Engineering Professor at Louisiana State University. Active as a consultant and public speaker, he also serves as the Chairman of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute User Panel, which is affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine and is a Director of Challenger Center as well as an advisor to the Heinlein Prize Trust.