Selected by NASA in May 1984, Thornton is a veteran of four space flights: STS-33 in 1989, STS-49 in 1992, STS-61 in 1993, and STS-73 in 1995. She has logged over 975 hours in space, including more than 21 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA). She was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2010.

Dr. Park is the associate director of the Foot and Ankle Fellowship at UVA and is the team foot and ankle surgeon for UVA Athletics. His research interests include injury biomechanics, sports-related injuries to the foot and ankle, tendon reconstruction, ankle replacement, bone grafting and biomechanical properties of orthopedic implants.

Jesse Quinlan works as a senior aerospace engineer in the Aeronautics Systems Analysis Branch and leads a team with a focus on applications to large, commercial, transport aircraft for the NASA Advanced Air Transport Technology Project. At the AATT he manages the development and execution of aircraft development, design, and technology assessment.

Dean West is a transformational researcher, award-winning teacher and mentor, inventor and entrepreneur. Her research focuses on the use of biomaterials, nanotechnology and tissue engineering, applying engineering approaches to studying biological problems and solving unmet medical needs, particularly in the fight against cancer. 

Jeff Crandall served as the Director of the University’s Center for Applied Biomechanics from 1994-2019. His research focuses on understanding human response and injury in automobile safety, sports, and military protection. He has experience with experimental biomechanics spanning the length scales of tissue samples to whole body cadavers.