FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 23, 2016
On Thursday, June 23 at 2:30 p.m. the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) will recognize Julie Payette, Chief Operating Officer of the Montreal Science Centre with an Honorary Doctorate of Technology. This degree is presented to individuals who are widely acknowledged for outstanding and sustained achievement in their area of expertise.
Julie Payette is recognized in Canada and internationally as an inspirational model in the world of science. She began her career as a systems engineer at IBM Canada before joining the NASA Astronaut Corps in Houston in 1996.
While training as an astronaut, she completed a military pilot course, and she also has a commercial pilot’s license. She participated in two space missions to the International Space Station aboard the shuttles Discovery (1999) and Endeavour (2009), serving as engineer and manager of robotic operations. During those missions, she logged 611 hours in space and made more than 400 circuits of the Earth. Having served as Chief Astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency from 2000 to 2007, she became a Public Policy Scholar at the prestigious Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, DC in 2011, in addition to being Quebec’s science delegate to the United States.
In 2013, she was named Chief Operating Officer of the Montreal Science Centre and MSC Vice-President of the Canada Lands Company. That same year, she was inaugurated into the Academy of Great Montrealers for helping restore science to a place of paramount importance in Quebec society. She also sits on several prestigious boards of directors and has been a director of the National Bank of Canada since 2014. Julie Payette has received numerous honours, including Knight of the Ordre National du Québec (2002) and Officer of the Order of Canada (2010).
For further information and media availability please contact: Jocelyne Leszczynski, Media Relations Coordinator, BCIT, C 604.250.9251 | E jleszczynski2@bcit.ca
-30-