Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058

Biographical Data

NAME: Janet Lynn Kavandi (Ph.D.)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born July 17, 1959 in Springfield, Missouri. Married to John Kavandi. They have two children. She enjoys snow skiing, hiking, camping, horseback riding, windsurfing, flying, scuba diving, piano. Her parents, William and Ruth Sellers of Cassville, Missouri, are deceased.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Carthage Senior High School, Carthage Missouri, in 1977; received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Missouri Southern State College - Joplin in 1980; master of science degree in chemistry from the University of Missouri - Rolla in 1982; doctorate in analytical chemistry from the University of Washington - Seattle in 1990.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Elected to the National Honor Society, 1977. Valedictorian of Carthage Senior High School, 1977. Awarded Presidential Scholarship from Missouri Southern State College, 1977. Graduated magma cum laude from Missouri Southern State College, 1980. Elected to Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, 1980; Who's Who of Emerging Leaders in America, 1989-90, 1991-92; and Who's Who in the West, 1987-88. Awarded certificates for Team Excellence and Performance Excellence from Boeing Missile Systems, 1991.

EXPERIENCE:

Following graduation in 1982, Dr. Kavandi accepted a position at Eagle-Picher Industries in Joplin, Missouri, as an engineer in new battery development for defense applications. In 1984, she accepted a position as an engineer in the Power Systems Technology Department of the Boeing Aerospace Company. During her ten years at Boeing, Kavandi supported numerous programs, proposals and red teams in the energy storage systems area through power analyses, trade studies, sizing, selection, development, testing and data analysis. She was lead engineer of secondary power for the Short Range Attack Missile II, and principal technical staff representative involved in the design and development of thermal batteries for Sea Lance and the Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile. Other programs she supported include Space Station, Lunar and Mars Base studies, Inertial Upper Stage, Advanced Orbital Transfer Vehicle, Get-Away Specials, Small Spacecraft, Air Launched Cruise Missile, Minuteman, and Peacekeeper. In 1986, while still working for Boeing, she was accepted into graduate school at the University of Washington, where she began working toward her doctorate in analytical chemistry. Her doctoral dissertation involved the development of a pressure-indicating coating that uses oxygen quenching of porphyrin photoluminescence to provide continuous surface pressure maps of aerodynamic test models in wind tunnels. Commercial imaging technology was used for data collection and analysis. This non-intrusive technique was developed to supplement or replace the more expensive and time consuming pressure tap method. Her work on pressure indicating paints has resulted in two patents to date. In addition to her patents, Dr. Kavandi has published and presented several papers at technical conferences and in scientific journals.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Dr. Kavandi was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in December 1994 and reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. Following an initial year of training, she was assigned to the Payloads and Habitability Branch where she supported payload integration for the International Space Station. A veteran of two space flights, Dr. Kavandi has logged over 503 hours in space. Dr. Kavandi served as a mission specialist on STS-91 (June 2-12, 1998) the 9th and final Shuttle-Mir docking mission, concluding the joint U.S./Russian Phase 1 program. Most recently, she served aboard STS-99 (February 11-22, 2000) the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission which mapped more than 47 million miles of the Earth's land surface.