Dan is a former NASA astronaut and a veteran of three space flights, four spacewalks, and two trips to the International Space Station.  Dan retired from NASA in 2005 and started his own company, Denbar Robotics, that creates robotic assistants for home and commercial use, concentrating on assistive devices for people with disabilities.

He received numerous honors; here are a few of them:  the 2000 and 2002 NASA Exceptional Service Medals, 2001 Top 10 in the world career spacewalk hours, 100 Most Notable Princeton Graduate School Alumni of the 20th Century, Harvard Medical School Paul J, Corcoran Award, and honorary doctoral degrees from Beloit College and St. Louis University.   He has given keynote addresses to audiences throughout the world.

Dan’s educational background includes a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1975; a master of engineering degree and a master of arts degree in electrical engineering/computer science from Princeton University in 1977; a doctorate in electrical engineering/computer science from Princeton University in 1980; and a doctorate in medicine from the University of Miami in 1982.   He has five patents, over 50 articles in scientific journals, and has served on two scientific journal editorial boards.  He has some film and television experience as well, including roles in two documentary films and as a cast member in season 12 of CBS Survivor.

MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Sensations of Space Flight
This talk describes what it feels like to fly in space.  From liftoff to landing, come along on the ride.  The rear-end car crash experience of lift-off blends into the shake-and-bake of early launch and then onto G-loads until the engines suddenly quit and zero-G takes over.  Float with Dan to the windows to see the glorious earth from above the sky.  Fly with him like superman, tumbling and soaring through the space station.  Go outside for a space walk and know how it feels to be a human satellite, free from the bonds of earth or spaceship.  Have some dinner, get some sleep, and experience some of the surprises that occur even to the most prepared astronauts.  Come along on entry to see fireballs explode off the shuttle’s tail, Saint Elmo’s fire race around the windows, feel the heat buildup as temperatures reach 3000 degrees only 1 foot from your head.  See the ground rushing by on final approach and ride along with the crew as they glide to wheel stop.

Follow Your Dreams
Here Dan talks about becoming an astronaut.  So many people told him it would never happen, that he would never be good enough.  You cannot believe those people.  They are the ones who never realized their dreams.  It is vital to both keep your dreams alive and to force them to come true.  Learn about how important failure can be.  In addition to some stories about his patient’s failures and successes, Dan talks about how he applied for the astronaut program 14 years in row until finally succeeding.  He follows up with descriptions of the training program and preparation for space flight, again with examples of initial failures followed by success.  Finally, he describes the experience of flying in space, complete with a chest-shaking video presentation that puts you in the cockpit with him.

Adaptation
Life adapts.  It happens at every scale of size and time throughout the world.  Dan uses examples from space flight  and from CBS Survivor to show both how essential adaptation is to survival and how we can readily adapt to new environments and challenges. We respond within seconds to an emergency, becoming stronger, faster, seeing better, more awake and alert.  On a longer time scale we learn skills, how to ride a bike or how to hit a tennis ball, and our minds and bodies respond with stronger muscles, greater coordination, smoother moves.  On evolutionary time scales, species adapt to changing climates and varied environments.  Adaptations make life remarkably resilient—there are creatures that live in alkaline lakes, in acid ponds, in undersea vents where there is no sunlight and temperatures reach hundreds of degrees.  Humans have taken an extra step—we not only adapt mentally and metabolically, but we change our environment to make our lives more comfortable.  We have even reached the point where we are able to affect the environment on a planetary scale and, while that may have negative repercussions for earth, it opens the possibility of someday walking on Mars in shorts and short sleeves.  

Adaptation is a universal phenomenon that is vital to survival for more than just biological organisms.  Highly successful businesses that stop expanding, innovating, and adapting, lose vision and initiative and eventually wither away.   The same pattern is true for individuals and for nations. Species expand or become extinct.  Businesses grow or dissolve.  Individuals develop and change or fade away.  Nations adapt to change or stagnate and dissolve.