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Services & Supports
Communications Office
Press Release
ASTRONAUT AT NUI MAYNOOTH
9th March 2005
NASA Astronaut, Lt Colonel Rex Walheim – who has spent 259 hours in space and whose latest mission was on the 13th Shuttle to visit the International Space Station – was the special guest at the NUI Maynooth Postgraduate Research Day held on campus, Wednesday 9 March.
The astronaut, wearing a NASA flight suit, delivered a guest lecture in the John Hume Building entitled Building a Space Station. He also attended the Research Day, visited the Experimental Physics and Electronic Engineering facilities on campus, participated in a prize-giving reception and was the guest at a dinner hosted by President, Professor John Hughes.
NASA astronaut Lt. Colonel Rex Walheim, US Air Force, with NUI Maynooth President, Professor John Hughes and Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, Dr. Jason Twamley, at the NUI Maynooth Postgraduate Research Open Day.
“The Postgraduate Research Day is where the university showcases what research is all about, bringing home to everyone the excitement of discovery and the part that each person plays in pushing forward the boundaries of human knowledge,” Dr Jason Twamley, Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, said.
“Nothing more epitomizes this enormous global endeavor than space exploration and the vast effort that humans have expended in exploring space. We are privileged that Lt Col Rex Walheim gave us a first-hand account of what it is like to be on the cutting edge of exploration and research endeavor.”
Further information: Colm Keane, Head of Communications 086 8250164 or Lisa McVann, Executive Assistant 01 708 6160.
Issued by: Communications Office, NUI Maynooth, Tel: 01-7083363, Mobile: 086-8250164 or Email: colm.keane@nuim.ie