7 Science Degrees -- Overeducated?

[DanS]

B.Sc., Physics, Johns Hopkins University
M.Sc., Aerospace Science, The Catholic University of America
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland
M.Sc., Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California
M.Sc., Applied Physics, Johns Hopkins University
MBA, Loyola College
M.Sc., Civil Engineering, George Washington University

The man tapped by Bush to be the new NASA Administrator has 7 science degrees.

First off, at least the engineering degrees are really, really tough, time-consuming courses of study. Second, if you're going to be a professional student, it would make more sense to do it in some bull**** area like sociology or psychology.

But most importantly, anybody with a masters degree in physics from Johns Hopkins is a suspect individual to my mind.

[DanS]

Space exploration fan nominated for NASA boss

A declared fan of space exploration with three decades of space industry experience was nominated to be NASA's new boss by US President George W Bush on Friday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mike Griffin, currently the director of space at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, will be the eleventh chief in the agency's history.

"I am an unabashed supporter of space exploration in general, and of human space flight in particular," Griffin told the House Science Committee in 2003. "I believe that the human space flight program is in the long run possibly the most significant activity in which our nation is engaged."

NASA's previous administrator, Sean O'Keefe, stepped down in February to become chancellor at Louisiana State University. The deputy administrator, Fred Gregory, has been the acting administrator since.
Intelligence technologies

Before Griffin's year-long stint at Johns Hopkins, he ran In-Q-Tel, a nonprofit group funded by the Central Intelligence Agency that invested in new commercial technologies for intelligence. Before that he was the CEO of the Magellan Systems Division of Orbital Sciences Corporation, the rocket and satellite company.

He is also known within NASA ranks. When the first President Bush issued a goal in 1989 of flying humans to Mars, Griffin led that effort as associate administrator for exploration. He also served as the agency's chief engineer and has worked on several space missions at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

In the 1980s, he was deputy director of technology for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. This group was charged with building a space-based missile defense system, also known as "Star Wars", but was ultimately unsuccessful.

He has seven college degrees, including physics, electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, civil engineering and business administration.
Space station critic

In the past, he has been critical of the International Space Station. "We should do what is necessary to bring the program to an orderly completion, obtaining where possible as much scientific value as we can from the enterprise while accommodating ourselves to the fact that such value is inevitably limited," he said in 2003.

But Griffin is a good choice, according to Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society. He told New Scientist Griffin would bring a focus to the agency. "What he brings to the table is a deep love for and interest in exploration," Friedman says.

Lawmakers have also praised Griffin's nomination. "He has broad expertise, knows NASA inside and out, and is an imaginative and creative thinker and leader," says House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert. "He is also known for his candor and directness. We look very forward to working with Dr Griffin at this critical time for NASA."

The agency is currently gearing up to make the first shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster in February 2003, while the fate of the Hubble space telescope hangs in the balance. NASA is also facing major structural changes as it adapts to meet the goals of President George W Bush's vision to send astronauts back to the Moon and then on to Mars.

[Odin]

That guy needs to get a life.

[DanS]

I would hazard a guess that he has the most real degrees of anybody in the country. Why put yourself through such torture?

[Odin]

Originally posted by DanS
I would hazard a guess that he has the most real degrees of anybody in the country. Why put yourself through such torture?

He was bored.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, he's an uber-nerd. It happens .

[St Leo]

Originally posted by DanS
I would hazard a guess that he has the most real degrees of anybody in the country. Why put yourself through such torture?

The satisfaction of accomplishment?

[Asher]

But most importantly, anybody with a masters degree in physics from Johns Hopkins is a suspect individual to my mind.

Is KH going for his Masters, or his PhD from Johns Hopkins?

[The Emperor Fabulous]

I wish I had the drive to complete that many degrees.

My mom has a masters...I don't think I'd even put time in for one of those...

...then again...I'm an actor. Degrees aren't really the basis of our job descriptions

Though if I don't make it as an actor, I might actually get a degree in Anthropology

[Odin]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Well, he's an uber-nerd. It happens .

I'm an Uber-nerd, and even I'm not that crazy, I'd like to have a life.

[Kuciwalker]

Re: 7 Science Degrees -- Overeducated?

Originally posted by DanS
But most importantly, anybody with a masters degree in physics from Johns Hopkins is a suspect individual to my mind.

Talk to KH.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Odin
I'm an Uber-nerd, and even I'm not that crazy, I'd like to have a life.

No, you aren't even close to being that much of an uber-nerd .

[Urban Ranger]

Re: 7 Science Degrees -- Overeducated?

Originally posted by DanS
B.Sc., Physics, Johns Hopkins University
M.Sc., Aerospace Science, The Catholic University of America
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland
M.Sc., Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California
M.Sc., Applied Physics, Johns Hopkins University
MBA, Loyola College
M.Sc., Civil Engineering, George Washington University

The man tapped by Bush to be the new NASA Administrator has 7 science degrees.

You can't count, Dan. How's MBA a science degree?

The really solid degree, other than the B.Sc., is the doctoral. Master degrees in engineering are usually not even as hard as their undergraduate counterparts.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Asher
Is KH going for his Masters, or his PhD from Johns Hopkins?

PhD

[centrifuge]

Re: Re: 7 Science Degrees -- Overeducated?

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Master degrees in engineering are usually not even as hard as their undergraduate counterparts.

I'd have to call bull**** on that. They are definitely harder to the extent that you need to know a good portion of the undergraduate work in order to even begin to learn the graduate work. Much of the undergraduate work needs to be 2nd nature, much the same way that addition/subtraction needs to be 2nd nature for algebra/calculus.