B. Gentry Lee, chief engineer for the Planetary Flight Systems Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will speak at Lamar University on October 1 on a Vision for the 21st Century. Lee is also a science fiction author with several New York Times bestsellers to his credit.
Lee will be on campus as part of the Lamar University Academic Lecture Series. The series is funded by student service fees to attract lecturers and experts to campus for speaking engagements. Lee will hold the public lecture for the community at 7:30 p.m. in the University Theatre on the Lamar campus. A book signing will be held after the lecture. The event is hosted by Lamar University’s College of Engineering.
A question and answer session will be held for Lamar University students at 3 p.m. in the Science Auditorium.
Lee is responsible for the engineering integrity of all the robotic planetary missions managed by JPL, including engineering oversight of historical twin rover missions to Mars and the implementation of NASA’s Deep Impact and Stardust missions.
Previously, Lee was chief engineer for the Galileo project and, after working in a variety of positions on the Viking project, was director of Science Analysis and Mission Planning during the Viking operations activities. As mankind’s first successful landings on another planet, the two historic Viking missions touched down on Mars in the summer of 1976. The Galileo Mission explored Jupiter with both an atmospheric probe and an orbiter that mapped the major Jovian satellites during a decade of operations.
In addition to his engineering work, Lee is an active novelist, television producer, computer game designer, media columnist, and lecturer. He is co-author of four novels, Cradle, Rama II, The Garden Of Rama, and Rama Revealed with revered science fiction grandmaster Arthur C. Clarke. All four books were New York Times bestsellers and were translated into more than 20 languages. Since his collaboration with Clarke, Lee has written three solo novels, Bright Messengers, Double Full Moon Night, and The Tranquility Wars, each of which were on the major science fiction bestseller lists.
Lee also was the late Carl Sagan’s partner in the creation, design, development, and implementation of Cosmos, a science documentary series for television that won several Emmys and the prestigious Peabody Award. Cosmos was the most successful nonfiction documentary of its time, eventually being shown in more than 60 different countries. Lee was also the chief designer for two commercial computer products, a role-playing adventure game named RAMA and an encyclopedia of the solar system entitled Exploring the Planets. In addition, he was a regular columnist for space.com.
Lee has received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Harold Masursky Award from the Astronomical Society.
The lecture is free for students and community guests and the public is invited to see this dynamic speaker. For more information call 880-8741.
