{"id":57374,"date":"2019-06-13T17:02:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T21:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?p=57374"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:36:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:36:35","slug":"astronaut-robert-thirsk-receives-honorary-degree-from-carleton-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/2019\/astronaut-robert-thirsk-receives-honorary-degree-from-carleton-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronaut Robert Thirsk Receives Honorary Degree from Carleton University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Astronaut Robert Thirsk Receives Honorary Degree from Carleton University\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Carleton University today conferred a Doctor of Engineering on Robert Thirsk in recognition of his outstanding career as a Canadian astronaut, his many contributions to scientific and health research, and his promotion of science education and lifelong learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirsk was honoured during Carleton\u2019s Spring Convocation, where more than 4,800 students are receiving degrees over five days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Thirsk addressed the crowd, he spoke about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in a changing world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome problems, possibly related to the disruption of traditional industries, will take us by surprise,\u201d said Thirsk. \u201cAnd that is the reason why Carleton University focuses on the training of skills \u2013 skills like creative risk-taking \u2013 to equip young leaders to face the coming years; to enable minds to connect, discover and generate transformative knowledge; and to create a more sustainable and prosperous nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirsk flew on two space missions as a member of the Canadian Space Agency\u2019s astronaut corps. He first flew aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1996 with six crewmates as part of the Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission. His second flight in 2009 was a six-month expedition aboard the International Space Station. He was the first Canadian to undertake a long duration expedition there. Thirsk and his five international crewmates performed multidisciplinary research, robotic operations and maintenance of the station\u2019s systems and payloads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now an adjunct faculty member at International Space University, Thirsk works with educational specialists across Canada to develop space-related curricula for young students. He encourages youth to build their dreams upon a foundation of advanced skills and lifelong learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to this work, Thirsk leads a national task force assessing a potential role for Canada in deep space astronaut health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fred Afagh, dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Design<\/a>, introduced Thirsk by noting his many accomplishments and how his time in space provided him with a unique perspective. Afagh underscored Thirsk\u2019s dedication to encouraging students to learn throughout their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is a strong promoter of a national economy based upon exploration and innovation,\u201d said Afagh. \u201cHe takes every opportunity to encourage youth to work outside of their comfort zone, to participate in collaborative team-oriented ventures and to pursue audacious dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media Contact<\/strong>
\nElizabeth Murphy
\nCommunications Co-ordinator
\nCarleton University
\n613-520-2600, ext. 8834
\nElizabeth.Murphy@carleton.ca<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carleton Flipboard account: flipboard.com\/@carletonstories<\/a>
\nFollow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com\/Cunewsroom<\/a>
\nNeed an expert? Go to: www.carleton.ca\/newsroom\/experts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carleton University today conferred a Doctor of Engineering on Robert Thirsk in recognition of his outstanding career as a Canadian astronaut, his many contributions to scientific and health research, and his promotion of science education and lifelong learning. Thirsk was honoured during Carleton\u2019s Spring Convocation, where more than 4,800 students are receiving degrees over five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":57368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1560,103,1561],"class_list":["post-57374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-releases","tag-convocation","tag-faculty-of-engineering-and-design","tag-honorary-degree"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57377,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57374\/revisions\/57377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}