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{{Short description|American scientist}}
{{Short description|American scientist}}
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{{Infobox person
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| caption = Huntoon in 1994
| caption = Huntoon in 1994
| nationality = American
| nationality = American
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1940|08|25}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1940|08|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Leesville, Louisiana]], United States
| birth_place = [[Leesville, Louisiana]], United States
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'''Carolyn Leach Huntoon''' (born August 25, 1940) is an American scientist and former government official. She was the director of the [[Johnson Space Center]] in [[Houston, Texas]], a position which she held from 1994 to 1996, and was the first woman in the role. She was an assistant secretary at the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] from 1999 to 2001.
'''Carolyn Leach Huntoon''' (born 25 August 1940) is an American scientist and former government official. She was the director of the [[Johnson Space Center]] in [[Houston, Texas]], a position which she held from 1994 to 1996, and was the first woman in the role. She was an assistant secretary at the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] from 1999 to 2001.


== Biography ==
== Biography ==


===Early life and education===
===Early life and education===
Carolyn Leach was born in [[Leesville, Louisiana]], on August 25, 1940.<ref name="Congress">{{cite book |title=Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 106th Congress |publisher=US Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |year=2000 |pp=77–85 |url=https://books.google.com.au/books?id=fYcZAAAAIAAJ |access-date=May 31, 2021 }}</ref> She had four sisters, Frances, Mixon Lee, Gloria Hope and Martha Ann, and an older brother, [[Buddy Leach|Anthony Claude (Buddy) Leach Jr.]],<ref name="Harrison obit">{{cite news|title=Harrison Hibbert Huntoon 1942 - 2021 |newspaper=Deridder Daily News |date=May 19, 2021 |via=Legacy |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deridderdaily/obituary.aspx?n=harrison-hibbert-huntoon |access-date=May 30, 2021}}</ref> who served a term in the [[United States House of Representatives]] representing [[Louisiana's 4th congressional district]] from 1979 to 1981.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bioguide Search |website=bioguide.congress.gov |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/L000167 |access-date=May 31, 2021}}</ref> She was educated at [[Leesville High School]], from which she graduated with the class of 1958.<ref name="Town Talk">{{cite news |title=She's one of prominent figures in Leesville history |newspaper=The Town Talk |location=Alexandria, Louisiana |url=https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2015/09/25/one-prominent-figures-leesville-history/72822836/ |access-date=May 30, 2021}}</ref>
Carolyn Leach was born in [[Leesville, Louisiana]], on 25 August 1940.<ref name="Congress">{{cite book |title=Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 106th Congress |publisher=US Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |year=2000 |pp=77–85 |url=https://books.google.com.au/books?id=fYcZAAAAIAAJ |access-date=31 May 2021 }}</ref> She had four sisters, Frances, Mixon Lee, Gloria Hope and Martha Ann, and an older brother, [[Buddy Leach|Anthony Claude (Buddy) Leach Jr.]],<ref name="Harrison obit">{{cite news|title=Harrison Hibbert Huntoon 1942 - 2021 |newspaper=Deridder Daily News |date=19 May 2021 |via=Legacy |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deridderdaily/obituary.aspx?n=harrison-hibbert-huntoon |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref> who served a term in the [[United States House of Representatives]] representing [[Louisiana's 4th congressional district]] from 1979 to 1981.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bioguide Search |website=bioguide.congress.gov |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/L000167 |access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> She was educated at [[Leesville High School]], from which she graduated with the class of 1958.<ref name="Town Talk">{{cite news |title=She's one of prominent figures in Leesville history |newspaper=The Town Talk |location=Alexandria, Louisiana |url=https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2015/09/25/one-prominent-figures-leesville-history/72822836/ |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref>


She entered [[Northwestern State College]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana]], in September of that year. She graduated with a [[Bachelor of Science]] (BS) degree in August 1962, and qualified as a [[medical technologist]] at [[Ochsner Foundation Hospital]]. She attended the [[University of Texas at Houston]] for a year in 1963 and 1964, and then [[Baylor College of Medicine]], where she earned her [[Master of Science]] (MS) in 1966, and [[PhD]] in 1968.<ref name="Congress"/> As part of her master's thesis, Leach studied [[aldosterone]], a salt-retaining hormone produced by the [[adrenal gland]]. This was of particular interest to the [[National Air and Space Administration]] (NASA) because [[astronaut]]s suffered from imbalances of fluids and [[electrolyte]]s during spaceflight. After she completed her doctorate at Baylor on the control of the stress reaction in animals, she accepted a [[National Research Council (United States)|National Research Council]] postdoctoral fellowship to study the metabolism of returning space flight crews at NASA's [[Manned Spacecraft Center]] in [[Houston, Texas]].<ref name="Oral 2002">{{cite interview |first=Carolyn L. |last=Huntoon |publisher=NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project |title=Oral History Transcript – Carolyn L. Huntoon |interviewer=Rebecca Wright |location=Barrington, Rhode Island |date=June 5, 2002 |url=https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/HuntoonCL/HuntoonCL_6-5-02.htm |access-date=May 31, 2021 }}</ref>
She entered [[Northwestern State College]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana]], in September of that year. She graduated with a [[Bachelor of Science]] (BS) degree in August 1962, and qualified as a [[medical technologist]] at [[Ochsner Foundation Hospital]]. She attended the [[University of Texas at Houston]] for a year in 1963 and 1964, and then [[Baylor College of Medicine]], where she earned her [[Master of Science]] (MS) in 1966, and [[PhD]] in 1968.<ref name="Congress"/> As part of her master's thesis, Leach studied [[aldosterone]], a salt-retaining hormone produced by the [[adrenal gland]]. This was of particular interest to the [[National Air and Space Administration]] (NASA) because [[astronaut]]s suffered from imbalances of fluids and [[electrolyte]]s during spaceflight. After she completed her doctorate at Baylor on the control of the stress reaction in animals, she accepted a [[National Research Council (United States)|National Research Council]] postdoctoral fellowship to study the metabolism of returning space flight crews at NASA's [[Manned Spacecraft Center]] in [[Houston, Texas]].<ref name="Oral 2002">{{cite interview |first=Carolyn L. |last=Huntoon |publisher=NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project |title=Oral History Transcript – Carolyn L. Huntoon |interviewer=Rebecca Wright |location=Barrington, Rhode Island |date=5 June 2002 |url=https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/HuntoonCL/HuntoonCL_6-5-02.htm |access-date=31 May 2021 }}</ref>


===NASA career===
===NASA career===


She joined NASA in 1970,<ref name="Chicago Tribune">{{cite news |title=Career at apogee: NASA has named Carolyn... |newspaper= Chicago Tribune |date=January 23, 1994 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-01-23-9401230455-story.html |access-date=May 31, 2021}}</ref> and as head of the Endocrine Laboratory, which was then part of the [[Lunar Receiving Laboratory]], performed pre- and post-flight testing of astronauts on the [[Project Apollo]] missions. During [[Project Skylab]], some of the experiments she had developed as a postdoctoral researcher were performed on the space station.<ref name="Oral 2002" /> She married Harrison Hibbert Huntoon; they had a daughter named Sally Ann.<ref name="Congress" /><ref name="Harrison obit" />
She joined NASA in 1970,<ref name="Chicago Tribune">{{cite news |title=Career at apogee: NASA has named Carolyn... |newspaper= Chicago Tribune |date=23 January 1994 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-01-23-9401230455-story.html |access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> and as head of the Endocrine Laboratory, which was then part of the [[Lunar Receiving Laboratory]], performed pre- and post-flight testing of astronauts on the [[Project Apollo]] missions. During [[Project Skylab]], some of the experiments she had developed as a postdoctoral researcher were performed on the space station.<ref name="Oral 2002" /> She married Harrison Hibbert Huntoon; they had a daughter named Sally Ann.<ref name="Congress" /><ref name="Harrison obit" />


In 1974, Huntoon became head of the Endocrine and Biochemistry Laboratories at the Johnson Space Center,<ref name="Congress"/> as the Manned Spaceflight Center had been renamed in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Johnson Space Center |publisher= NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/offices/history/center_history/johnson_space_center |access-date=May 31, 2021}}</ref> She became the chief of the Biomedical Laboratories Branch in 1977. She was a consultant to the [[US Navy]] for the [[Tektite habitat]] project in 1969 and 1970, the McGovern Allergy Clinic in Houston from 1972 to 1975, the Department of Physiology at [[Washington State University]] in [[Pullman, Washington]], from 1974 to 1976, and the [[American Society of Clinical Pathologists]] in [[Chicago]] from 1974 to 1978. She was also an [[adjunct professor]] at the [[University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston]] from 1975 to 1987.<ref name="Congress"/>
In 1974, Huntoon became head of the Endocrine and Biochemistry Laboratories at the Johnson Space Center,<ref name="Congress"/> as the Manned Spaceflight Center had been renamed in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Johnson Space Center |publisher= NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/offices/history/center_history/johnson_space_center |access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> She became the chief of the Biomedical Laboratories Branch in 1977. She was a consultant to the [[US Navy]] for the [[Tektite habitat]] project in 1969 and 1970, the McGovern Allergy Clinic in Houston from 1972 to 1975, the Department of Physiology at [[Washington State University]] in [[Pullman, Washington]], from 1974 to 1976, and the [[American Society of Clinical Pathologists]] in [[Chicago]] from 1974 to 1978. She was also an [[adjunct professor]] at the [[University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston]] from 1975 to 1987.<ref name="Congress"/>


Huntoon was appointed to the selection panel for [[NASA Astronaut Group 8]], the first astronaut selection that included women.<ref name="Oral 2002" /> The selection of six women as astronauts in 1978 doubled the number of women in technical positions at the Johnson Space Center. As the most senior woman already there, Huntoon became a role model and chaperone to the newcomers. She was involved in the center's preparations to cater for women as astronauts and became the point of contact for those with issues with the women astronauts.<ref name="Oral 2008">{{cite interview |first=Carolyn L. |last=Huntoon |publisher=NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project |title=Oral History Transcript – Carolyn L. Huntoon |interviewer=Jennifer Ross-Nazzal |location=Houston, Texas |date=April 21, 2008 |url=https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/HuntoonCL/HuntoonCL_4-21-08.htm |access-date=May 31, 2021 }}</ref> She went on to serve on subsequent astronaut selection panels until 1994,<ref name="Congress" /> but expressed regret that fewer women were chosen than she would have liked, the [[Astronaut Office]] remaining largely male-dominated into the 21st century.<ref name="Oral 2002" />
Huntoon was appointed to the selection panel for [[NASA Astronaut Group 8]], the first astronaut selection that included women.<ref name="Oral 2002" /> The selection of six women as astronauts in 1978 doubled the number of women in technical positions at the Johnson Space Center. As the most senior woman already there, Huntoon became a role model and chaperone to the newcomers. She was involved in the center's preparations to cater for women as astronauts and became the point of contact for those with issues with the women astronauts.<ref name="Oral 2008">{{cite interview |first=Carolyn L. |last=Huntoon |publisher=NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project |title=Oral History Transcript – Carolyn L. Huntoon |interviewer=Jennifer Ross-Nazzal |location=Houston, Texas |date=21 April 2008 |url=https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/HuntoonCL/HuntoonCL_4-21-08.htm |access-date=31 May 2021 }}</ref> She went on to serve on subsequent astronaut selection panels until 1994,<ref name="Congress" /> but expressed regret that fewer women were chosen than she would have liked, the [[Astronaut Office]] remaining largely male-dominated into the 21st century.<ref name="Oral 2002" />


As Associate Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate from 1984 to 1987, Huntoon had to deal with the fallout from the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]]. She provided continuity at a turbulent time. She became the Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate in 1987. She was now in charge of over 1,200 scientists, engineers and medical doctors, and responsible for the development of flight equipment for habitation in space, including food and medical supplies, and life science studies of the effects of space flight on humans.<ref name="Congress"/> In 1994, she became the director of the Johnson Space Center. She was the first woman to direct any NASA center.<ref name="Chicago Tribune" /> As such, she was in charge of a work force of 15,000 supporting 13 successful [[Space Shuttle]] missions, and the development of what became the [[International Space Station]]. From 1996 to 1998 she served as the NASA representative in the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] in [[Washington, DC]].<ref name="Congress" />
As Associate Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate from 1984 to 1987, Huntoon had to deal with the fallout from the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]]. She provided continuity at a turbulent time. She became the Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate in 1987. She was now in charge of over 1,200 scientists, engineers and medical doctors, and responsible for the development of flight equipment for habitation in space, including food and medical supplies, and life science studies of the effects of space flight on humans.<ref name="Congress"/> In 1994, she became the director of the Johnson Space Center. She was the first woman to direct any NASA center.<ref name="Chicago Tribune" /> As such, she was in charge of a work force of 15,000 supporting 13 successful [[Space Shuttle]] missions, and the development of what became the [[International Space Station]]. From 1996 to 1998 she served as the NASA representative in the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] in [[Washington, DC]].<ref name="Congress" />
Line 45: Line 45:
[[File:JSC2002-E-31988.jpg|thumb|left|With other directors of the Johnson Space Center in 2002]]
[[File:JSC2002-E-31988.jpg|thumb|left|With other directors of the Johnson Space Center in 2002]]


Huntoon left NASA in 1998 to join [[George Washington University]] as an [[Executive in Residence]] in its Project Management Program.<ref name="Congress"/> The following year she was nominated by the [[President of the United States]], [[Bill Clinton]] and confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] as the fourth Assistant Secretary for the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] (DOE) Office of Environmental Management.<ref>{{cite web |title=Assistant Secretaries for Environmental Management |publisher= Department of Energy |url=https://www.energy.gov/em/assistant-secretaries-environmental-management |access-date=May 31, 2021}}</ref> In this role she oversaw the DOE cleanup of the United States nuclear weapons complex at 113 sites in 30 states. She was also responsible for the management of the DOE's field offices at the [[Idaho National Laboratory]], [[Savannah River Site|Savannah River]], [[Hanford Site|Hanford]], Carlsbad, Ohio, (which oversaw the sites at [[Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant|Paducah, Kentucky]] and [[Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant|Portsmouth, Ohio]]) and [[Rocky Flats Plant|Rocky Flats]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Carolyn L. Huntoon |publisher=Department of Energy |url=http://energy.gov/em/contributors/carolyn-l-huntoon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203033822/http://energy.gov/em/contributors/carolyn-l-huntoon |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After the [[2000 United States presidential election]] President [[George W. Bush]] asked her to stay on at the DOE to provide some continuity, which she agreed to do until a suitable replacement was found. She retired in the summer of 2001 and moved to [[Barrington, Rhode Island]].<ref name="Oral 2002" /> Her husband died in April 2021.<ref name="Harrison obit" />
Huntoon left NASA in 1998 to join [[George Washington University]] as an [[Executive in Residence]] in its Project Management Program.<ref name="Congress"/> The following year she was nominated by the [[President of the United States]], [[Bill Clinton]] and confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] as the fourth Assistant Secretary for the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] (DOE) Office of Environmental Management.<ref>{{cite web |title=Assistant Secretaries for Environmental Management |publisher= Department of Energy |url=https://www.energy.gov/em/assistant-secretaries-environmental-management |access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> In this role she oversaw the DOE cleanup of the United States nuclear weapons complex at 113 sites in 30 states. She was also responsible for the management of the DOE's field offices at the [[Idaho National Laboratory]], [[Savannah River Site|Savannah River]], [[Hanford Site|Hanford]], Carlsbad, Ohio, (which oversaw the sites at [[Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant|Paducah, Kentucky]] and [[Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant|Portsmouth, Ohio]]) and [[Rocky Flats Plant|Rocky Flats]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Carolyn L. Huntoon |publisher=Department of Energy |url=http://energy.gov/em/contributors/carolyn-l-huntoon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203033822/http://energy.gov/em/contributors/carolyn-l-huntoon |archive-date=2013-12-03 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> After the [[2000 United States presidential election]] President [[George W. Bush]] asked her to stay on at the DOE to provide some continuity, which she agreed to do until a suitable replacement was found. She retired in the summer of 2001 and moved to [[Barrington, Rhode Island]].<ref name="Oral 2002" /> Her husband died in April 2021.<ref name="Harrison obit" />


==Awards and honors==
==Awards and honors==


In 1974, Huntoon was awarded the [[NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal]], the [[NASA Exceptional Service Medal]] in 1985, the [[NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal]] in 1989 and the [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]] in 1992,<ref name="NASA awards">{{cite web |title=Historical Recipient List |publisher=NASA |url=https://searchpub.nssc.nasa.gov/servlet/sm.web.Fetch/Agency_Awards_Historical_Recipient_List.pdf?rhid=1000&did=2120817&type=released |access-date=April 24, 2021}}</ref> and the [[Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive]] in 1994.<ref name="Congress" /> She was inducted into the [[Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame]] in 2003,<ref>{{cite web |title=Carolyn L. Huntoon |publisher= Louisiana Political Museum |url=https://lapoliticalmuseum.com/inductee/carolyn-l-huntoon/ |access-date=May 31, 2021}}</ref> and in September 2014, Women in Aerospace gave her a lifetime achievement award for "sustained and exemplary leadership at NASA, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Energy, her exceptional scientific contributions towards understanding the effects of spaceflight on the human body, and her dedication and mentorship of astronauts and aerospace professionals."<ref name="Leesville Leader">{{cite news |title= A look back: Remembering Dr. Carolyn Huntoon day |newspaper=Leesville Daily Leader |location=Leesville, Louisiana |url=https://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/news/20180825/look-back-remembering-dr-carolyn-huntoon-day |access-date=May 30, 2021}}</ref>
In 1974, Huntoon was awarded the [[NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal]], the [[NASA Exceptional Service Medal]] in 1985, the [[NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal]] in 1989 and the [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]] in 1992,<ref name="NASA awards">{{cite web |title=Historical Recipient List |publisher=NASA |url=https://searchpub.nssc.nasa.gov/servlet/sm.web.Fetch/Agency_Awards_Historical_Recipient_List.pdf?rhid=1000&did=2120817&type=released |access-date=24 April 2021}}</ref> and the [[Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive]] in 1994.<ref name="Congress" /> She was inducted into the [[Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame]] in 2003,<ref>{{cite web |title=Carolyn L. Huntoon |publisher= Louisiana Political Museum |url=https://lapoliticalmuseum.com/inductee/carolyn-l-huntoon/ |access-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> and in September 2014, Women in Aerospace gave her a lifetime achievement award for "sustained and exemplary leadership at NASA, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Energy, her exceptional scientific contributions towards understanding the effects of spaceflight on the human body, and her dedication and mentorship of astronauts and aerospace professionals."<ref name="Leesville Leader">{{cite news |title= A look back: Remembering Dr. Carolyn Huntoon day |newspaper=Leesville Daily Leader |location=Leesville, Louisiana |url=https://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/news/20180825/look-back-remembering-dr-carolyn-huntoon-day |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref>


==Notes==
==Notes==

Revision as of 10:24, 28 June 2021

Carolyn Huntoon
Huntoon in 1994
Born (1940-08-25) 25 August 1940 (age 83)
Leesville, Louisiana, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
OccupationScientist
Organizations
SpouseHarrison Hibbert Huntoon
Children1
RelativesBuddy Leach (brother)
Awards

Carolyn Leach Huntoon (born 25 August 1940) is an American scientist and former government official. She was the director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, a position which she held from 1994 to 1996, and was the first woman in the role. She was an assistant secretary at the Department of Energy from 1999 to 2001.

Biography

Early life and education

Carolyn Leach was born in Leesville, Louisiana, on 25 August 1940.[1] She had four sisters, Frances, Mixon Lee, Gloria Hope and Martha Ann, and an older brother, Anthony Claude (Buddy) Leach Jr.,[2] who served a term in the United States House of Representatives representing Louisiana's 4th congressional district from 1979 to 1981.[3] She was educated at Leesville High School, from which she graduated with the class of 1958.[4]

She entered Northwestern State College in Natchitoches, Louisiana, in September of that year. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in August 1962, and qualified as a medical technologist at Ochsner Foundation Hospital. She attended the University of Texas at Houston for a year in 1963 and 1964, and then Baylor College of Medicine, where she earned her Master of Science (MS) in 1966, and PhD in 1968.[1] As part of her master's thesis, Leach studied aldosterone, a salt-retaining hormone produced by the adrenal gland. This was of particular interest to the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) because astronauts suffered from imbalances of fluids and electrolytes during spaceflight. After she completed her doctorate at Baylor on the control of the stress reaction in animals, she accepted a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship to study the metabolism of returning space flight crews at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas.[5]

NASA career

She joined NASA in 1970,[6] and as head of the Endocrine Laboratory, which was then part of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, performed pre- and post-flight testing of astronauts on the Project Apollo missions. During Project Skylab, some of the experiments she had developed as a postdoctoral researcher were performed on the space station.[5] She married Harrison Hibbert Huntoon; they had a daughter named Sally Ann.[1][2]

In 1974, Huntoon became head of the Endocrine and Biochemistry Laboratories at the Johnson Space Center,[1] as the Manned Spaceflight Center had been renamed in 1973.[7] She became the chief of the Biomedical Laboratories Branch in 1977. She was a consultant to the US Navy for the Tektite habitat project in 1969 and 1970, the McGovern Allergy Clinic in Houston from 1972 to 1975, the Department of Physiology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, from 1974 to 1976, and the American Society of Clinical Pathologists in Chicago from 1974 to 1978. She was also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston from 1975 to 1987.[1]

Huntoon was appointed to the selection panel for NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first astronaut selection that included women.[5] The selection of six women as astronauts in 1978 doubled the number of women in technical positions at the Johnson Space Center. As the most senior woman already there, Huntoon became a role model and chaperone to the newcomers. She was involved in the center's preparations to cater for women as astronauts and became the point of contact for those with issues with the women astronauts.[8] She went on to serve on subsequent astronaut selection panels until 1994,[1] but expressed regret that fewer women were chosen than she would have liked, the Astronaut Office remaining largely male-dominated into the 21st century.[5]

As Associate Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate from 1984 to 1987, Huntoon had to deal with the fallout from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. She provided continuity at a turbulent time. She became the Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate in 1987. She was now in charge of over 1,200 scientists, engineers and medical doctors, and responsible for the development of flight equipment for habitation in space, including food and medical supplies, and life science studies of the effects of space flight on humans.[1] In 1994, she became the director of the Johnson Space Center. She was the first woman to direct any NASA center.[6] As such, she was in charge of a work force of 15,000 supporting 13 successful Space Shuttle missions, and the development of what became the International Space Station. From 1996 to 1998 she served as the NASA representative in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in Washington, DC.[1]

Government career

With other directors of the Johnson Space Center in 2002

Huntoon left NASA in 1998 to join George Washington University as an Executive in Residence in its Project Management Program.[1] The following year she was nominated by the President of the United States, Bill Clinton and confirmed by the United States Senate as the fourth Assistant Secretary for the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management.[9] In this role she oversaw the DOE cleanup of the United States nuclear weapons complex at 113 sites in 30 states. She was also responsible for the management of the DOE's field offices at the Idaho National Laboratory, Savannah River, Hanford, Carlsbad, Ohio, (which oversaw the sites at Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio) and Rocky Flats.[10] After the 2000 United States presidential election President George W. Bush asked her to stay on at the DOE to provide some continuity, which she agreed to do until a suitable replacement was found. She retired in the summer of 2001 and moved to Barrington, Rhode Island.[5] Her husband died in April 2021.[2]

Awards and honors

In 1974, Huntoon was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1985, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1989 and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1992,[11] and the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive in 1994.[1] She was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in 2003,[12] and in September 2014, Women in Aerospace gave her a lifetime achievement award for "sustained and exemplary leadership at NASA, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Energy, her exceptional scientific contributions towards understanding the effects of spaceflight on the human body, and her dedication and mentorship of astronauts and aerospace professionals."[13]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 106th Congress. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. 2000. pp. 77–85. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Harrison Hibbert Huntoon 1942 - 2021". Deridder Daily News. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021 – via Legacy.
  3. ^ "Bioguide Search". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  4. ^ "She's one of prominent figures in Leesville history". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e Huntoon, Carolyn L. (5 June 2002). "Oral History Transcript – Carolyn L. Huntoon" (Interview). Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Barrington, Rhode Island: NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Career at apogee: NASA has named Carolyn..." Chicago Tribune. 23 January 1994. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  7. ^ "History of Johnson Space Center". NASA. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  8. ^ Huntoon, Carolyn L. (21 April 2008). "Oral History Transcript – Carolyn L. Huntoon" (Interview). Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, Texas: NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Assistant Secretaries for Environmental Management". Department of Energy. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Carolyn L. Huntoon". Department of Energy. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  11. ^ "Historical Recipient List" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Carolyn L. Huntoon". Louisiana Political Museum. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  13. ^ "A look back: Remembering Dr. Carolyn Huntoon day". Leesville Daily Leader. Leesville, Louisiana. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
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