Carolyn Huntoon | |
|---|---|
 Huntoon in 1994 | |
| Born | Carolyn Leach (1940-08-25)August 25, 1940 (age 85) Leesville, Louisiana, United States |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupation | Scientist |
| Organizations | |
| Spouse | Harrison Hibbert Huntoon |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Buddy Leach (brother) |
| Awards | |
Carolyn Leach Huntoon (born August 25, 1940) is an American scientist and former government official. She was the director of theJohnson Space Center inHouston, Texas, a position which she held from 1994 to 1996, and was the first woman in the role. She was an assistant secretary at theDepartment of Energy from 1999 to 2001.
Carolyn Leach was born inLeesville, Louisiana, on August 25, 1940.[1] She had four sisters, Frances, Mixon Lee, Gloria Hope and Martha Ann, and an older brother,Anthony Claude (Buddy) Leach Jr.,[2] who served a term in theUnited States House of Representatives representingLouisiana's 4th congressional district from 1979 to 1981.[3] She was educated atLeesville High School, from which she graduated with the class of 1958.[4]
She enteredNorthwestern State College inNatchitoches, Louisiana, in September of that year. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in August 1962, and qualified as amedical technologist atOchsner Foundation Hospital. She attended theUniversity of Texas at Houston for a year in 1963 and 1964, and thenBaylor College of Medicine, where she earned her Master of Science (MS) in 1966, and PhD in 1968.[1] As part of her master's thesis, Leach studiedaldosterone, a salt-retaining hormone produced by theadrenal gland. This was of particular interest to theNational Air and Space Administration (NASA) becauseastronauts suffered from imbalances of fluids andelectrolytes during spaceflight. After she completed her doctorate at Baylor on the control of the stress reaction in animals, she accepted aNational Research Council postdoctoral fellowship to study the metabolism of returning space flight crews at NASA'sManned Spacecraft Center inHouston, Texas.[5]
She joined NASA in 1970,[6] and as head of the Endocrine Laboratory, which was then part of theLunar Receiving Laboratory, performed pre- and post-flight testing of astronauts on theProject Apollo missions. DuringProject Skylab, some of the experiments she had developed as a postdoctoral researcher were performed on the space station.[5] She married Harrison Hibbert Huntoon; they had a daughter named Sally Ann.[1][2]
In 1974, Huntoon became head of the Endocrine and Biochemistry Laboratories at the Johnson Space Center,[1] as the Manned Spaceflight Center had been renamed in 1973.[7] She became the chief of the Biomedical Laboratories Branch in 1977. She was a consultant to theUS Navy for theTektite habitat project in 1969 and 1970, the McGovern Allergy Clinic in Houston from 1972 to 1975, the Department of Physiology atWashington State University inPullman, Washington, from 1974 to 1976, and theAmerican Society of Clinical Pathologists in Chicago from 1974 to 1978. She was also anadjunct professor at theUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston from 1975 to 1987.[1]
Huntoon was appointed to the selection panel forNASA Astronaut Group 8, the first astronaut selection that included women.[5] The selection of six women as astronauts in 1978 doubled the number of women in technical positions at the Johnson Space Center. As the most senior woman already there, Huntoon became a role model and chaperone to the newcomers. She was involved in the center's preparations to cater for women as astronauts and became the point of contact for those with issues with the women astronauts.[8] She went on to serve on subsequent astronaut selection panels until 1994,[1] but expressed regret that fewer women were chosen than she would have liked, theAstronaut Office remaining largely male-dominated into the 21st century.[5]
As Associate Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate from 1984 to 1987, Huntoon had to deal with the fallout from theSpace ShuttleChallenger disaster. She provided continuity at a turbulent time. She became the Director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate in 1987. She was now in charge of over 1,200 scientists, engineers and medical doctors, and responsible for the development of flight equipment for habitation in space, including food and medical supplies, and life science studies of the effects of space flight on humans.[1] In 1994, she became the director of the Johnson Space Center. She was the first woman to direct any NASA center.[6] As such, she was in charge of a work force of 15,000 supporting 13 successfulSpace Shuttle missions, and the development of what became theInternational Space Station. From 1996 to 1998 she served as the NASA representative in theOffice of Science and Technology Policy in Washington, DC.[1]
Huntoon left NASA in 1998 to joinGeorge Washington University as anExecutive in Residence in its Project Management Program.[1] The following year she was nominated by the President of the United States,Bill Clinton and confirmed by theUnited States Senate as the fourth Assistant Secretary for theDepartment of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management.[9] In this role she oversaw the DOE cleanup of the United States nuclear weapons complex at 113 sites in 30 states. She was also responsible for the management of the DOE's field offices at theIdaho National Laboratory,Savannah River,Hanford, Carlsbad, Ohio, (which oversaw the sites atPaducah, Kentucky andPortsmouth, Ohio) andRocky Flats.[10] After the2000 United States presidential election PresidentGeorge W. Bush asked her to stay on at the DOE to provide some continuity, which she agreed to do until a suitable replacement was found. She retired in the summer of 2001 and moved toBarrington, Rhode Island.[5] Her husband died in April 2021.[2]
In 1974, Huntoon was awarded theNASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, theNASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1985, theNASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1989 and theNASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1992,[11] and thePresidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive in 1994.[1] She was inducted into theLouisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in 2003,[12] and in September 2014, Women in Aerospace gave her a lifetime achievement award for "sustained and exemplary leadership at NASA, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Energy, her exceptional scientific contributions towards understanding the effects of spaceflight on the human body, and her dedication and mentorship of astronauts and aerospace professionals."[13]
