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Former NASA Astronaut and Air Force Colonel Cady Coleman is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions and a six-month expedition aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Onstage, Coleman draws from her time at NASA and in extreme “remote work” situations to discuss team building, leadership, and innovation. With her extraordinary photos and videos, Coleman delivers a captivating account of life in space and the importance of diversity, inclusion, and collaboration in accomplishing ambitious goals.

With 180 days in space accumulated during three missions, Dr. Coleman acted as the Lead Robotics and Lead Science officer aboard the ISS, performing the second-ever robotic capture of a supply ship from the station. On the ground at NASA, Cady served in a variety of roles within the Astronaut Office, including Chief of Robotics, lead for tile repair efforts after the Columbia accident, and lead astronaut for integration with NASA’s commercial partners SpaceX, Orbital ATK, and Northrup Grumman for supply ships. Her work paved the way for commercial spaceflight collaborations that are now commonplace. Before retiring from NASA, she led open-innovation and public-private partnership efforts for the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA Headquarters. As a volunteer test subject for the centrifuge program at the Armstrong Aeromedical Lab, Dr. Coleman set several human endurance/tolerance records while performing physiological and new equipment studies.

Dr. Coleman is a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion in STEM/STEAM fields and a sought-after speaker on a wide range of topics. She is a frequent contributor to ABC News for their Special Reports on current space topics and most recently co-anchored the Netflix/TIME livestream of SpaceX’s Inspiration 4 launch. Her speaking highlights include the opening speech for TED from space, addressing the UN for World Ocean Day, and TED Unplugged in addition to extensive NASA commentary for CNN, ABC, and Fox.

As a research affiliate at the MIT Media Lab and Global Explorer in Residence at Arizona State University, Coleman consults on space-related work, including microgravity research. She serves on several boards, including the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Greenfield Community College, Dent the Future, and Skycatch, an innovative A.I. company that provides 3D mapping data for timely decision-making. She is an advisor to Earthrise Alliance, which uses satellite imagery to provide context for environmental and social justice issues.

An amateur flute player, she is best known for her “Space Duet” with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull and her work from space with the acclaimed Irish band, The Chieftains. While on the ISS, she coached actress Sandra Bullock in preparation for Bullock’s astronaut role in the movie Gravity.

Cady earned a B.S. in chemistry from MIT and a Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts. Coleman is a pioneer in the research of materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, and fluid physics. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, she was selected as an astronaut in 1992 and flew her first mission in 1995.