the ISS National Lab Board of Directors Chairperson Dr. France Cordova Resigns to Lead National Science Foundation; Dr. Lewis M. Duncan Named Interim Chairperson
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (March 31, 2014) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (the ISSInternational Space Station National Lab) announced that France Cordova, Ph.D., has resigned from its board of directors as she will become the new director for the National Science Foundation. Previously, Dr. Cordova served as the chairperson for the the ISS National Lab board of directors. With her departure, Lewis M. Duncan, Ph.D., has been named interim chairperson.
Since December 2012, Dr. Cordova has honorably served as the chairperson for the ISS National Lab, where she was the official spokesperson for all board-related matters and presided over all board meetings. Dr. Duncan will now assume such responsibilities. Over her tenure, Dr. Cordova was instrumental in the continued growth of the ISS National Lab as the manager of the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory, including presiding over the first the ISS National Lab-sponsored research payloads sent to the station.
Dr. Cordova resigned in order to accept an appointment by President Barack Obama to serve as Director of the National Science Foundation. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and officially sworn in on March 31, 2014.
“The the ISS National Lab Board of Directors and staff sincerely thank Dr. Cordova for her dedication to the advancement of the ISS National Laboratory,” said the ISS National Lab interim board of directors chairperson Dr. Lewis M. Duncan. “Her leadership was critical in seeing the ISS National Lab move from startup phase to a fully operational organization that has brokered well over 40 flight projects destined for the ISS National Laboratory capable of benefitting life on Earth. I look forward to continuing her legacy and working with the ISS National Lab staff to fully utilize this incredible research laboratory.”
Dr. Duncan currently serves as the president of Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of space plasma physics, high‐power radio wave propagation, and radar studies of the upper atmosphere. Duncan received his B.A. in physics and mathematics and his M.S. and Ph.D. in space physics from Rice University.
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About the ISS National Lab: The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (the ISS National Lab) was selected by NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration in July 2011 to maximize use of the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory through 2020. the ISS National Lab is dedicated to supporting and accelerating innovations and new discoveries that will enhance the health and wellbeing of people and our planet. For more information, visit issnationallab.org.
About the ISS National Laboratory: In 2005, Congress designated the U.S. portion of the International Space Station as the nation’s newest national laboratory to maximize its use for improving life on Earth, promoting collaboration among diverse users, and advancing STEM education. This unique laboratory environment is available for use by other U.S. government agencies and by academic and private institutions, providing access to the permanent microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. setting, vantage point in low Earth orbit(Abbreviation: LEO) The orbit around the Earth that extends up to an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Earth’s surface. The International Space Station’s orbit is in LEO, at an altitude of approximately 250 miles., and varied environments of space.
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