A Recap of News from 2009-2010

Doctor. Doctor.

Ryan's final thesis has been submitted and approved by the Graduate School. He is officially 'not a student' anymore (diploma pick up is Aug 9th). He can now add catchphrases to his repertoire such as "Trust me, I'm a Doctor!"

Executive Decision

On July 1st, Canada Day, Ryan was named Executive Director of Yuri's Night. He will lead a volunteer team of over 30 people around the globe in preparation for the 2011 events, which will be the 50th Anniversary of Human Spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin 12 April 1961) and the 30th Anniversary of the first Space Shuttle flight (STS-1 Columbia 12 April 1981). The full press release is available online (URL) as well as the announcement of the new Global Executive Team (URL).

Doctor Kobrick!

Ryan successfully defended his PhD Dissertation on April 27th, 2010. After some minor edits to the final thesis document, Ryan will have completed his Doctoral degree! His upcoming plans include attending the STS-132 launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis with the NASA Tweetup, attending the International Space Development Conference in Chicago with the Yuri's Night Global Executive Team, and attending AIAA's 40th International Conference on Environmental Systems in Barcelona to present a paper on three-body lunar dust abrasion using simulants and co-chairing a track on Extra Vehicular Activities. During the summer Ryan will seek his next adventure and job in the space industry, focused on human exploration.

Yuri's Night Boulder 2010 & Global Executive Team

Yuri's Night Boulder was bigger than ever in 2010 with approximatley 500 patrons attending the free concert held at the Lazy Dog on Pearl St. 50 souvenir pint glasses were handed out and three bands rocked the stage: H1N1, Areopagitica, and Other Side of Clearview. A Space Costume Contest was also held to hand out prizes form stores in the community. In addition to being the Event Organizer to Boulder for the fifth consecutive year, Ryan served on the Global Executive Team as Project Manager. Ryan contacted key personnel from the space industry (and a few form outside) and produced an iTunes Podcast with video toasts celebrating the 10th Annual Yuri's Night. The complete listings is online and all videos are free to download.

D-FENSE! Or is it D-FENCE!
Journal papers are being written and Ryan is targeting late April for his Ph.D. Dissertation Defense. His dissertation will be near complete at that point pending edits and suggestions from his committee, but technically it will not be due until July 16 with an official graduation date of August 2010. Since there is no summer ceremony he will walk in the spring commencement in May with his family in town. Ryan will be Dr. Ryan by the end of May!

Prime Time Moderation

Ryan co-moderated the "Plenary Two: Entering the Workforce and Strengthening the Global Community" at the 60th International Astronautical Congress in Daejeon, Republic of Korea. The panel was comprised of four students and three young professionals, who shared their accomplishments and hopes for the future. More info located at URL. YouTube video of the session at URL.

NASA Ambassador Interview on NASA.gov
Ryan's NASA Ambassador interview can be found online at URL

 

Summer 2009 & NASA Education Involvement

Ryan completed his second 10+ week visit to NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to work on his lunar dust abrasion research during the summer of 2009. During his time at Glenn he was selected to participate in: NASA's STS-127 Pre-Launch Education Forum "Strengthening the STEM Workforce: Strategies for Engaging Generation Y" in Cape Canaveral, FL; NASA's Student Roundtable Discussion with NASA Education Coordinating Committee at NASA GRC; and NASA's Student Roundtable Discussion with Charles Bolden & Lori Garver at NASA GRC.

ICES Paper Selected for SAE Transactions Journal

Ryan's paper with Dr.'s David Klaus & Ken Street "Developing Abrasion Test Standards for Evaluating Lunar Construction Materials" (2009-01-2377) was selected at the 39th International Conference on Environmental Systems (Savannah, GA) for SAE's Transactions Journal.

BACK TO BACK TO BACK Hockey Champions

Hops on Ice takes it's third consecutive YMCA championship!

NASA Student Ambassador

Ryan was named a student ambassador for NASA early in 2009 (Certificate).

Yuri's Night Boulder 2009 a huge success! The Yuri's Night Boulder team was able to educate thousands about human spaceflight and the international achievements represented by Yuri’s Night. Thursday night (April 9th) approximately 400 patrons came to The b.side Lounge for our three bands: Areopagitica, Other Side of Clearview, and The Piggies. On Saturday (April 11th) the team helped fuel the largest Astronomy Day to date at Fiske Planetarium with an estimated attendance of 750-1000. The third event participation for Yuri’s Night Boulder was at the Russian Booth at the International Festival in the UMC. This year there were 216 events in 46 countries, on 6 continents, and in 2 “worlds”.

Astronaut journey completed for 2009 round. In the Canadian Space Agency's Astronaut Recruitment Campaign Ryan reached the Top 2% (final 79 of 5,352) with a video interview. Ryan did not reach the NASA interview phase. Ryan commented "I'm only 29 and I'm happy to have made it this far while still working on my Ph.D. Once I complete my degree next year and gain more industry experience, I should be in a strong position to apply again and again."