What better place to spotlight space exploration than the Maryland Science Center. The setting was ideal for the Seventh Annual Legacy Society Luncheon, which celebrated donors who support the future of Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. Attendees enjoyed the museum’s interactive exhibits before they gathered for a three-course meal and heard from a Hopkins space expert.
The event, held on September 10 and hosted by the Johns Hopkins Office of Gift Planning, featured keynote speaker Jason Kalirai, PhD, mission area executive for space formulation at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). He is also the Engineering for Professionals program chair in applied physics at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School. At APL, he leads a team responsible for the formulation of all new APL civil space initiatives, oversight of the laboratory’s large portfolio of space science grants, and integrated initiatives that cut across the nation’s civil and national security space domains.
“Everything we do at Johns Hopkins APL and the work that we pursue and that my team enables would not be possible without the support that people like you provide to the university. It’s what makes the university strong,” Kalirai told the audience.
In his presentation, Kalirai provided a status on the space industry, including the NASA Dragonfly mission to explore Saturn’s moon Titan and involving a team of experts led by APL. He also shared APL’s strategy to protect the world from space hazards, like asteroids, and revisited the successful DART mission of 2022. He discussed other focus areas, from the goals of lunar missions to the Parker Solar Probe’s exploration of the sun. The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A with legacy society members.
Established in 2012, the Johns Hopkins Legacy Society recognizes more than 2,000 donors who have made a commitment to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine through an estate plan or a life income gift, such as a charitable gift annuity.
Anne Doyle, executive director of the Office of Gift Planning, closed the luncheon by thanking legacy society members for their forward-looking commitments. “Your legacy gifts are a source of strength and support for Johns Hopkins,” she said.
View the photo gallery below for a closer look at the Seventh Annual Johns Hopkins Legacy Society Luncheon. Photography by Lisa Helfert.
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Topics: Alumni, Faculty and Staff, Friends of Johns Hopkins Medicine, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Strengthening Partnerships