Dr. Sandra Magnus Awarded GLVC Alumni of Distinction Award
INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has named Dr. Sandra (Hall) Magnus the 2009 recipient of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award. Magnus is a 1986 graduate of Missouri S&T, and following a tremendous career as a soccer student-athlete for the Miners, recently completed her second space mission as an astronaut for the NASA space program. She will be presented the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Spring Banquet in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 19.
Magnus, a mission specialist with NASA, earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Missouri S&T in 1986 and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1990. She earned a Ph.D. from the School of Material Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996 before joining NASA.
While at Missouri S&T, Magnus was one of the top defenders on the women’s soccer team. She was a four-year letterwinner and helped guide the Miners to a 31-27-2 record during the program’s first four years. Magnus, who was inducted into the Missouri S&T Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003, anchored a defense that allowed just over a goal per game during her four years, including just 14 during the 1983 season when the Lady Miners posted a 10-5 record.
Upon graduating from Missouri S&T, Magnus worked for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company for five years as a stealth engineer, working on internal research and development studying the effectiveness of RADAR signature reduction techniques. She was also assigned to the United States Navy’s A-12 Attack Aircraft program, working on the propulsion system.
Magnus received the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award in 1994 and 1996 while at Georgia Tech and completed her thesis work involving investigations on materials of interest for “Scandate” thermionic cathodes.
Following receipt of her doctorate from Georgia Tech, Magnus joined NASA and completed two years of training and evaluation qualifying her for flight assignment as a mission specialist.
From 1998-2000, Magnus traveled to Russia to help cosmonauts train for trips to the space station.
She served as a capsule communicator in Mission Control at Houston’s Johnson Space Center in 2000 and Magnus made her first space mission in October of 2002, logging 11 days in space. While on the 11-day mission, Magnus drove the spacewalk mission and operated Space Shuttle Atlantis’ robotic arm.
In April, Magnus completed a three-month mission to the International Space Station as an Expedition 18 flight engineer and NASA Science officer. She flew to the space station aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor and upon docking with the International Space Station assisted with the implementation of equipment that will allow the space station to support a six-man crew.
The Alumni of Distinction Award is named in remembrance of Dr. Charles Bertram. Dr. Bertram served as a professor and faculty athletic representative at the University of Southern Indiana and is a former president of the GLVC. He contributed a great deal of time, energy and effort to the league’s success and was instrumental in conference operations for many years.
In honor of Dr. Bertram, the Alumni of Distinction Award is presented to an individual that displays academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character and leadership who have served their institution with personal distinction since their graduation and who have displayed postgraduate public or community service and contributions to athletics at any level.
Past recipients of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award include Dennis Rheinbold, Dr. David Porta, Dr. Jane Weaver, Jim Vargo, LuAnn Humphrey, Dr. Michael Bernier, Lois Taurman, Larry Tucker and Pat White.