Sep 26, 2008 - Claremont, Calif. - Harvey Mudd College (HMC) alumnus and NASA astronaut Stan Love ‘87 delivered an address to students, faculty, staff and friends of the college at HMC's annual fall convocation Thursday, Sept. 4.

Nadia Abuelezam ‘09, who was recognized as the recipient of a scholarship from the Astronaut Foundation, also gave a talk about her childhood experiences in deciding “Where Shall We Go?,” which was the theme for the event.

President Maria Klawe followed Love’s talk with remarks about the college’s progress in realizing the goals of the strategic plan, “HMC 2020: Envisioning the Future.” Dean of Faculty Robert Cave, whose office organized the event, added closing comments.

Also recognized at convocation were other students who received all-college awards: Jennifer Rinker ‘11 (Athlete of the Year), Andrea Levy ‘11 and Neal Pisenti ‘11 (Jean and Joe Platt Freshman Prize), Mark Hendricks ‘10 (Shirlynn Spacapan Memorial Scholarship), and Benjamin Preskill ‘09 and Ethan Sokol ‘10 (Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship).

Love addressed the theme, “Where Shall We Go?” by reflecting on his time at HMC and a popular movie that he saw with fellow students at nearby Montclair Plaza, "The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the Eighth Dimension." “Where shall we go?” he asked, “To Planet 10, of course. Unfortunately, we’re not sure we still have a planet nine.”

That comment elicited a student response: “We love you, Pluto!”

“They never said where [Buckaroo Bonzai] went to college, but it was probably Harvey Mudd, because he was a physicist, a brain surgeon and a race car driver. And a rock star and a pulp action hero.”

Love discussed NASA and its original mission, which was implicit: to beat the Russians to the moon. “People ask us now, ‘What have you done lately?,’” which Love answered with a litany of projects, many of them to explore our solar system and deep space. Unfortunately, space exploration doesn’t have the same public appeal it did during the days of the Cold War.

“Do we lack the political will?,” Love said, in discussing NASA’s future. “That’s slang for money. Back in the 1960s, all you had to do was say ‘space,’ and Congress would come with a big dump truck and shower you with ‘political will.’”

Love discussed setting goals and objectives, both individually and as an institution: “The Apollo model is popular—you see it everywhere: Never quit. Choose something heroic and focus your whole life on it. The problem is if you have a heroic goal and you fail, it can ruin your day, your year, your life.”

He offered an alternative model based on the mission of the Hubble space telescope for setting goals and objectives. The telescope failed in its two primary objectives, but succeeded in a third, unexpected one.

Love concluded with this “Hubble model” advice: “Do what you think is cool, attack it with all your energy and your heart, and evaluate your performance and change when needed. You might not end up where you planned, but you will end up some place good.”