STS-75 press kit

Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 37
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
Franklin R. Chang-Diaz (Ph.D.)
NASA Astronaut
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Born April 5, 1950, in San Jose, Costa Rica, to the late Mr. Ramon A.
Chang-Morales and Mrs. Maria Eugenia Diaz De Chang. His mother resides in Costa Rica.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Colegio De La Salle in San Jose, Costa Rica, in November 1967, and from
Hartford High School in Hartford, CT, in 1969; received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical
engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1973 and a doctorate in applied plasma physics from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977.
MARITAL STATUS: Married to the former Peggy Marguerite Doncaster of Alexandria, LA.
CHILDREN: Jean E., December 22, 1973; Sonia R., March 31, 1978; Lidia A., March 1, 1988; and
Miranda K., July 9, 1995.
SPECIAL HONORS: Recipient of the University of Connecticut's Outstanding Alumni Award (1980);
NASA Space Flight Medal (1986); the Liberty Medal from President Ronald Reagan at the Statue of
Liberty Centennial Celebration in New York City (1986); the Medal of Excellence from the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus (1987); NASA Exceptional Service Medals (1988, 1990, 1993); American Astronautical
Society Flight Achievement Award (1989); NASA Space Flight Medals (1986, 1989, 1992, 1994).
Outstanding Technical Contribution Award, Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference
(1993). Awarded the Cross of the Venezuelan Air Force by President Jaime Lusinchi during the 68th
Anniversary of the Venezuelan Air Force in Caracas, Venezuela (1988). Recipient of three Honoris Causa
Doctorates: Doctor of Science from the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica; Doctor of Science from the
University of Connecticut and Doctor of Law from Babson College. Also Honorary faculty from the
College of Engineering of the University of Costa Rica. Honorary Citizenship from the government of
Costa Rica (April 1995). This is the highest honor Costa Rica confers to a foreign citizen, making him the
first such honoree who was actually born there.
EXPERIENCE: While attending the University of Connecticut, he also worked as a research assistant in
the Physics Department and participated in the design and construction of high energy atomic collision
experiments. Following graduation in 1973, he entered graduate school at MIT, becoming heavily involved
in the United States' controlled fusion program and doing intensive research in the design and operation of
fusion reactors. He obtained his doctorate in the field of applied plasma physics and fusion technology and,
in that same year, joined the technical staff of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. His work at Draper
was geared strongly toward the design and integration of control systems for fusion reactor concepts and
experimental devices, in both inertial and magnetic confinement fusion. In 1979, he developed a novel
concept to guide and target fuel pellets in an inertial fusion reactor chamber. More recently he has been
engaged in the design of a new concept in rocket propulsion based on magnetically confined high
temperature plasmas. As a visiting scientist with the M.I.T. Plasma Fusion Center from October 1983 to
December 1993, he led the plasma propulsion program there to develop this technology for future human
missions to Mars. In December 1993, Dr. Chang-Diaz was appointed Director of the Advanced Space
Propulsion Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center where he continues his research on plasma rockets. He
is an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Houston and has presented numerous papers at
technical conferences and in scientific journals.
In addition to his main fields of science and engineering, he worked for 2-1/2 years as a house manager in
an experimental community residence for de-institutionalizing chronic mental patients, and was heavily
involved as an instructor/advisor with a rehabilitation program for Hispanic drug abusers in Massachusetts.