Talk about coming a long way. Bonnie Dunbar went from the 40-acre cattle and wheat ranch of her childhood in central Washington to orbiting in space. At a time when women were discouraged from studying engineering, she parlayed her three degrees in the field into a career with NASA, becoming the most experienced female astronaut in the world.
The Sunnyside native started on the road to that career at the UW, where she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in 1971 and 1975, and she's being honored as this year's Alumna Summa Laude Dignata, an award given not for recent work but for a lifetime record of achievement. This is the highest honor the UW can bestow on a graduate.
In a way, Dunbar began her work for NASA while she was still a student, before women were even accepted into the astronaut program. As an undergraduate at the UW, she helped Ceramic Engineering Professor James I. Mueller develop the special ceramic tiles that NASA would use to coat the space shuttle to make it able to withstand re-entry into the atmosphere. She then went on to help produce the shuttle's tile and thermal barrier coating when she worked for Rockwell International's Space Division in California.
Turned down when she first applied to be an astronaut, Dunbar was undeterred. She earned her doctorate and was successful when she applied again. She has spent 50 days in space on five space shuttle flights and now is NASA's assistant director of university research and affairs, developing policies and overseeing university grants and initiatives. She is the highest-ranking woman at NASA.
