POTSDAM -- SUNY Potsdam is welcoming alumna Jamie Szafran, who works for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, to the campus Thursday and Friday.

Szafran, a 2008 Potsdam graduate, will speak to several classes and offer a free public talk at her alma mater at 4:30 p.m. in the Fireside Lounge of the Barrington Student Union. During her presentation, Szafran will speak of her journey to NASA, including her education at SUNY Potsdam and her experience at internships and work along the way.

Friday, Szafran will be recognized at the regular meeting of the SUNY Potsdam Computer and Informational Science Alumni Board. College President Dr. Kristin G. Esterberg will present Szafran with the Rising Star Award from the SUNY Potsdam Alumni Association at 5 p.m. in a closed reception. The award is presented to an alumnus who has demonstrated outstanding professional achievement in the first decade following graduation. Szafran will be recognized for her outstanding accomplishments in the field of computer science, with NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Szafran established herself as a rising star long before teaming up with the NASA Space Station full time in 2009. As a student, she majored in both musical studies and computer science and minored in mathematics at SUNY Potsdam, graduating magna cum laude with two bachelor's degrees in 2008.

Szafran was a four-year recipient of the Newell Scholarship and was registered in the College's Honors Program. She also directed the Crane Hand Bell Choir and acted as a teaching assistant in the Department of Computer Science. In addition, she served on the Campus Rescue Squad and became an emergency management technician.

In the summer of 2007, Szafran was one of 20 people selected from more than 1,000 applicants to participate in an internship at NASA that focused on exploration system sand mission control directives. Her supervisor was impressed enough to have her return the following summer, while she attended graduate school for a semester, and then worked at the center in alternating semesters until she graduated.

After graduating from the University at Buffalo with a master of science degree in 2010, NASA recruited Szafran as a full-time computer scientist and engineer with the title Aerospace Technologist for the Kennedy Space Center. She is now a lead developer on the spacecraft command and control system's common services team, writing software to control ground support equipment for the next chapter in human spaceflight.

She is also an engineer, working with the SwampWorks rapid prototyping research and development lab, enabling design and testing of equipment for geology operations.

Outside of work, Szafran is a half-marathoner and triathlete, a performing musician, a self-styled programming language theorist and serves as the treasurer of FamiLAB, Orlando's hackerspace.