Harvard Foundation names Scientist of Year

The Harvard Foundation will present its 2008 Scientist of the Year Award to Stephanie D. Wilson, a NASA astronaut and 1988 Harvard College graduate, at this year’s annual “Albert Einstein Science Conference: Advancing Minorities and Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics.” Wilson will be honored for her outstanding work in engineering and space exploration with NASA.

As a mission specialist, Wilson has made two trips into space on the shuttle Discovery, both on missions to serve the International Space Station (ISS). On these missions, she performed ISS maintenance and repairs, as well as tests of new equipment and procedures to increase the safety of space shuttles.

The conference will take place April 4 and 5, beginning with a reception and luncheon in the Pforzheimer House Hastings Room at noon, where Wilson will be presented with the Harvard Foundation Medal for Science. On Saturday (April 5), students from area public schools will visit for a day of entertaining science education, with experiments and lectures conducted by Harvard faculty. This “Partners in Science” segment will take place in the Science Center from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Student mentors for the public school children are welcome.