  donald alan thomas, ph.d. (born may 6, 1955) is an american engineer and a former nasa astronaut. ==education== graduated from cleveland heights high school, cleveland heights, ohio, in 1973; received a bachelor of science degree in physics from case western reserve university in 1977, and a master of science degree and a doctorate in materials science from cornell university in 1980 and 1982, respectively. his dissertation involved evaluating the effect of crystalline defects and sample purity on the superconducting properties of niobium. ==organizations== tau beta pi; association of space explorers (ase). ==awards and honors== graduated with honors from case western reserve university in 1977. recipient of nasa sustained superior performance award, 1989. recipient of 4 nasa group achievement awards, 4 nasa space flight medals, 2 nasa exceptional service medals, and the nasa distinguished service medal. dr. thomas has been nominated by towson to be one of the usa science and engineering festival's nifty fifty speakers who will speak about his work and career to middle and high school students in october 2010.http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2010festival/niftyfifty retrieved 2010-16-05 in july, 2014, don thomas, now a retired astronaut, was featured as a celebrity visitor to the spaceship r. u. sirius in the comic strip "brewster rockit" by tim rickard, which is anachronistically set in the present time. on july 4, the spaceship crew recalls that his 1995 mission was delayed due to a woodpecker attacking his space shuttle. the same woodpecker appears, pecking at the windows of the spaceship, at which time thomas confesses that he owes the bird money. ==career== following graduation from cornell university in 1982, dr. thomas joined at&t bell laboratories in princeton, new jersey, working as a senior member of the technical staff. his responsibilities there included the development of advanced materials and processes for high density interconnections of semiconductor devices. he was also an adjunct professor in the physics department at trenton state college in new jersey. he holds two patents and has authored several technical papers. he left at&t in 1987 to work for [[lockheed engineering
1955_births American_astronauts Cornell_University_alumni Living_people People_from_Cleveland,_Ohio Towson_University_faculty