CASE STUDIES    LIFE SCIENCES

Easi Scientists Win Coveted NASA Silver Snoopy Awards

Easi is proud to announce that two Easi employees, Diane DeKerlegand and Tom Molina, received “Silver Snoopy” awards for their achievements in support of NASA’s human spaceflight program. The NASA “Silver Snoopy” award was started in the early days of America’s manned space flight program by the original seven Mercury astronauts. They choose Snoopy since, at that time, Snoopy was the most recognized figure around the world. Today, the NASA Astronaut Corps presents “Silver Snoopy” awards to those individuals deserving special recognition for their outstanding work.

The “Silver Snoopy” is awarded in person by an astronaut to recognize a person’s outstanding performance in support of NASA's human space flight program. It is one of the most coveted awards presented for support of the Space Shuttle or International Space Station programs, and may be given for either a single outstanding effort or for a continuous superior performance enhancing the probability of mission success.

Diane DeKerlegand is a Nutritional Biochemist with 17 years of experience as a member, and now lead of, the Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory Team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). Diane has supported many life science research projects, authored of peer-reviewed publications and presentations, and worked on the International Multilateral Artificial Gravity project to integrate requirements for handling biological samples.

Tom Molina is a Microbiologist with 38 years of experience in bacteriology, parasitology and mycology. Tom has refined microbiological procedures, hardware and test kits, especially in the area of fungal contamination, that decrease the risk to crews and spacecraft. His work also benefits NASA’s astronaut corps through studies of buildings and astronaut quarters at JSC. Tom has authored or co-authored numerous scientific publications related to microbiological assessment in spaceflight.

Easi is proud to offer our congratulations to Diane and Tom for their outstanding performance in support of America’s human spaceflight program and we join the NASA Astronaut Corps as we recognize Diane and Tom for their sustained superior performance.