Selected for the scientist-astronaut program in 1965, Harrison Schmitt organized the lunar science training for the Apollo astronauts, represented the crews during the development of hardware and procedures for lunar surface exploration, and oversaw the final preparation of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Descent Stage. He was designated mission scientist in support of the Apollo 11 mission. After training as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 15, he served as lunar module pilot for Apollo 17, the last Apollo mission to the moon. On December 11, 1972, he landed in the Valley of Taurus-Littrow as the only scientist and the last of 12 astronauts to step on the moon. In 1975, after spending two years managing NASA's Energy Program Office, Schmitt fulfilled a longstanding personal commitment by entering politics. Elected in 1976, he served a six-year term in the U.S. Senate beginning in 1977. The only natural scientist to serve in the Senate since Thomas Jefferson served as vice president, Schmitt was a member of the Senate Commerce, Banking, Appropriations, Intelligence, and Ethics Committees. In his last two years in the Senate, he chaired the Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space as well as the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. He also has served as chairman of the NASA Advisory Council. His scientific research concentrates primarily on the synthesis of data related to the origin and evolution of the moon and the terrestrial planets and on the economic geology of the lunar regolith and its resources. Currently he is an associate fellow in engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, teaching “Resources from Space.” His book, Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space, was published by Springer in 2006. Since 1964, he has been the author of many scientific journal papers and book chapters related to exploration, space, and lunar science.

Matt Shipman is the research communications lead at N.C. State University, author of The Handbook for Science Public Information Officers (2015, University of Chicago Press) and a contributing author to Science Blogging: The Essential Guide (2016, Yale University Press). He is a regular contributor to HealthNewsReview.org.

Twitter: @ShipLives

Telemedicine and virtual reality in healthcare are making headlines more and more frequently. During Lunch with a Scientist, Neal Sikka will speak on the improvements to care that telemedicine provides underserved communities. He will also discuss a number of projects currently under way implementing virtual reality in medical care.

Registration is required (no charge). Limit: 22

Neal Sikka is a board-certified emergency medicine physician with a particular interest and expertise in telemedicine and technological applications to health care. He has over 12 years of telemedicine experience and is recognized as a national leader in telemedicine expertise. He holds a seat on the advisory board of the MidAtlantic Telehealth Resource Center, is an active member of the GW mHealth Collaborative, and was a founder and the first chair of the American College of Emergency Physicians telemedicine Section. He has developed undergraduate and graduate education related to emergency medicine and telemedicine and regularly speaks at regional and national telehealth meetings.

His research has focused on improving patient care through technology and he has received funding for telehealth-related research from the McKesson Foundation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Challenge Grant Award to use remote medical monitoring to improve care for peritoneal dialysis patients. Most recently, he is principal investigator on a CareFirst Foundation Grant to provide specialty care via telemedicine in D.C.-area Federally Qualified Health Centers.