William M. Shepherd

“Shep” leads SERC’s Capstone Marketplace, which challenges student teams to use multidisciplinary technical and management approaches as they design and build real-world solutions for government customers. He is also a fellow of SERC’s Acquisition Innovation Research Center. A graduate of the Naval Academy, he served several years as a SEAL before being selected as a NASA astronaut. He flew space missions on the Atlantis, Discovery, and Columbia, and spent almost five months as commander of the first mission to the International Space Station.

Career Highlights:

• Served as Special Operations Command’s first science advisor from 2008–2011
• Awards include the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the Lt. Col. George M. Chinn Award from the National Defense Industrial Association, and the Yuri Gagarin Gold Medal from Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland
• Inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame and International Space Hall of Fame