Events

National Geographic Live & TOArts Present Aerospace Engineer Tracy Drain

Join NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory aerospace engineer Tracy Drain to discover the marvels of our cosmic backyard on Friday, January 29 at 8:00 pm in the Fred Kavli Theatre.

Drain is a flight systems engineer who has helped to develop, test, and operate a variety of robotic spacecraft for deep space exploration in a career spanning more than two decades. Her passion for space grew from an early love of science fiction – she soaked up Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica, and sci-fi books by the armload. After obtaining B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky and Georgia Tech respectively and interning at the NASA Langley Research Center as an undergrad student, she landed a full-time position on the engineering staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2000. She is currently the lead Flight Systems Engineer on the Europa Clipper mission.

A life-long learner, Drain loves encouraging people to nurture their curiosity and explore the wonders around us, as expressed in her TEDx talk “A Childlike Sense of Wonder: The Curious World of an Aerospace Engineer.” She serves on the planning committee for the National Academy of Science’s Science and Entertainment Exchange, which aims to partner with the entertainment industry to make science more accessible and inspiring to the general public. She also serves on the advisory board of Arizona State University’s Interplanetary Initiative, which seeks to create a positive future for humans in space.

Join Drain for thrilling stories of engineering challenges and scientific discoveries from the Kepler mission and its hunt for planets beyond our solar system, a behind-the-scenes account of the Juno mission to Jupiter, and a peek into the Psyche mission to one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt. With infectious enthusiasm, she’ll shine a light on the darkness and vastness of space.

Single tickets are priced at $54.50 & $44.50 with group discounts available. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster online at www.ticketmaster.com, or through the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Box Office, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard. For more information call 805-449-2787 or visit www.bapacthousandoaks.com

Bank of America Performing Arts Center
2100 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362