BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – Just days away from its landing on Mars, West Virginia Wesleyan College will host one of its own, Christopher Kuhl ‘93, Chief Engineer for NASA’s MEDLI2 Project,  for a virtual conversation to preview the upcoming landing of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. His work on the Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) project is part of the Mars 2020 mission to monitor the extreme conditions of the Aeroshell that protects the rover as it enters Mars atmosphere.

Kuhl will participate in a classroom conversation with Dr. Albert Popson, Wesleyan Physics Professor, on Tuesday, February 2 at 7:00 p.m. The virtual conversation is free and open to the public; to attend, RSVP to alumni@wvwc.edu by February 1.

“I look forward to engaging with Wesleyan students and sharing our work to reach Mars and push the limits of space exploration,” said Kuhl, who has worked with NASA since 2000 and helped bring MEDLI2 to life.

In addition to transporting the Mars Perseverance 2020 Rover to Mars, where it is slated to land on February 18, Kuhl’s work on MEDLI2 will collect data during the Rover’s entry through the red planet’s atmosphere.

“This is an exciting opportunity to highlight one of our alumni and the game-changing work he has undertaken at NASA,” Popson said. “Wesleyan is very proud of Chris’ achievements and are looking forward to sharing this unique event with our Wesleyan students.”

The virtual conversation, which is presented by Wesleyan’s Office of Development, will be broadcast by Zoom, an online video platform, and free and open to the public. To RSVP, please email alumni@wvwc.edu.