James Garvin '78, Sc.M. '81, Ph.D. '84, chief scientist for NASA's Mars and lunar exploration programs, was honored with the William Rogers Award yesterday at the 21st Annual Alumni Recognition Ceremony.
Before the ceremony Sunday evening, Garvin gave a multimedia presentation at the William Rogers Award Lecture at MacMillan Hall. About 80 students and alumni heard Garvin speak about the success of the two NASA rover missions currently on Mars.
"We've learned that Mars harbored salty bodies of water," Garvin said after the lecture. "Whether they were frozen over or not we don't know, but salty bodies of water that would have been hospitable enough actually (to) allow for potential organisms to live in them. Those missions have given us a new hope and optimism for searching for life on Mars."
Garvin also spoke about future missions to the planet and about the profound effect that his Brown education has had on him and other NASA scientists, jokingly referring to Mars as the "Brown planet" when speaking about contributions Brown alumni have made to the Mars missions.
Garvin also made a presentation at the awards ceremony, showing off high-definition images of Mars and speaking about his personal experiences at Brown.
According to the Brown Alumni Web site, the William Rogers Award is designed to recognize "important contributions to humankind made by Brown alumni anywhere in the world."
Jim Head Ph.D. '69, professor of geological sciences, taught Garvin as an undergraduate and graduate student at Brown.
"It's just a really well-deserved honor," he said. "It's something that is designed to honor the people who have had a national impact. Jim's had a cosmic impact - he's had such an impact on this planet's freeing itself of its gravity and going out and seeing what's going on in (Earth's) neighborhood."
