NASA astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman will visit Stoneleigh-Burnham School on Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. to speak about her work as a chemist and NASA astronaut and her passion for playing the flute. The talk is free and open to the public and will be held in Geissler Gallery.
Since joining NASA in 1992, Coleman has logged more than 500 hours in space. Coleman has worked on long-term habitability issues on the space station, led the effort to label Russian segments of the International Space Station in English and tracked issues with acoustics and living accommodations. Even while aboard the International Space Station, Coleman has found time to play her flute. During an interview with NPR’s “All Things Considered”, Coleman said, "I play the flute on the ground and it’s one of the things I love to do. One of the things that I think is important…is to try to share how amazing it is up here. I relate to flute players and I just wanted [sic] them to understand what a cool place it was [sic] and how many possibilities there were [sic] to play music up here on the space station.”
Greg Snedeker, the School’s instrumental music teacher, a cellist, jazz pianist and composer invited Coleman to come speak at Stoneleigh-Burnham School. “My primary reason for asking her to come speak was to give students a chance to hear her talk not only about being an astronaut and scientist, but also her passion for her flute” says Snedeker. “Here is a person who has had an incredibly demanding schedule throughout her life, but she has kept her flute by her side and has found ways to incorporate it into what she does as a profession.”
Coleman received a degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 and a doctorate in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1991. Coleman was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in 1983 and spent several years as a research chemist where she worked with model compounds for optical applications including advanced computers and data storage.