Dr. Joseph P. Allen served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Veridian Corporation until its purchase by the General Dynamics Corporation in late 2003. At that time, Veridian was a public company (NYSE: VNX) with annual revenues in excess of $1 billion.

Some years earlier, Dr. Allen was a research associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory and at Yale University, then served as a member of the physics faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. In 1967, NASA selected Allen as one of nine Scientist-Astronauts, a position he held until 1985. While at NASA, Dr. Allen served as a mission controller for Apollo 15, Apollo 17 and Space Shuttle flight STS-1. He later flew as an astronaut aboard “Columbia” (STS-5), the first space shuttle mission to carry cargo to orbit, and then aboard “Discovery” (STS-14), the only mission to date to salvage cargo from orbit.

During his NASA career, Allen also served as Assistant Administrator of NASA from 1975-1978 and as Director of Astronaut Training and Operations in the early 1980’s.

Dr. Allen holds a M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University and an undergraduate degree in mathematics and physics from DePauw University. He is the author of Entering Space: an Astronaut’s Odyssey, a personal account of the space flight experience, and he has published widely in the fields of physics and space research. Dr. Allen currently serves as a director of United Space Alliance, Houston, Texas; a director of the Monterey Bay
Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California; a trustee of the National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander, Wyoming; a trustee of DePauw University and as a Board Member of the Challenger Center, a charitable organization sponsoring Space Science Education projects in North America, Canada, England and Korea.

A Fulbright Scholar to Germany in 1959-1960, Dr. Allen’s awards include the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the Wilber Cross Medal from Yale University, the Walter P. Cooke Award from the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Lloyd’s of London Silver Medal for Meritorious Services. He has been awarded several Honorary Doctor of Science degrees and he is an inductee into the U. S. National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and into the Astronauts Hall of Fame in Cape Kennedy, Florida.

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