BROOKINGS, S.D. – Standing up against one’s superiors for what is morally right is never easy nor is exposing a company’s mistakes to the public. But that didn’t stop Roger Boisjoly, a Morton-Thiokol aerospace engineer who worked with the space shuttle Challenger program.

Boisjoly will give a presentation titled “Professional Ethics” at South Dakota State University Tuesday Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. in the Volstorff Ballroom of the Student Union. His speech, which is free and open to the public, is being hosted by the Joint Engineering Council and the College of Engineering.

Boisjoly had more than 25 years’ worth of experience in the aerospace industry in 1985 when be became involved in an improvement effort on the O-rings connecting segments of the solid rocket booster, which was used to take the space shuttle into orbit. The night before the launch, Boisjoly and several other engineers spoke with their company, Morton Thiokol, and NASA and recommended postponing the launch over O-ring safety concerns. The engineers were overruled and the launch went ahead as scheduled with disastrous results.  Seventy-three seconds after lift-off, the Challenger exploded killing all seven of its flight crew.

Boisjoly has spent his entire career making well-informed decisions based on his understanding of and belief in a professional engineer’s rights and responsibilities. For his honesty and integrity leading up to and directly following the shuttle disaster, Boisjoly was awarded the Prize for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Working now as a professional forensic engineering consultant and noted speaker on professional ethics, Boisjoly travels the country speaking about the Challenger explosion and the importance of professional ethics.

“This marks the second high-profile lecture this fall, sponsored by our Joint Engineering Council students”, said Lewis Brown, SDSU Dean of the College of Engineering.  “I hope students and the public will attend and enjoy this rare opportunity.  It should be of special interest to students and professionals in engineering and technology professions”, Brown said.