KWU Adds NASA Scientist to Homecoming Events

Kansas Wesleyan's Homecoming is right around the corner, and the university announced Saturday that it will cross-promote an event with Salina's Red Fern Booksellers that will include Dr. Erika Kohler of NASA. She will speak at 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 16 with the title of, "Trial by Fire: How Extreme NASA Labs Prepare Us for Venus."

Kohler is a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Deputy Project Scientist and Acting Deputy PI for the DAVINCI mission to Venus. As the Principal Investigator of the Hot Environments Lab, she designs experimental studies that simulate high-temperature environments to investigate exoplanetary clouds and Venusian surface-atmosphere interactions. Her laboratory work provides the critical ground-truth data needed to enhance the accuracy of planetary models and observations.

At the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Kohler is a colleague of Dr. Stefanie Milam '02, one of Kansas Wesleyan's most distinguished alumni.

Kansas Wesleyan's Homecoming kicks off Oct. 15 with a pep rally in downtown Salina. Check out the full schedule at https://www.kwu.edu/homecoming2026.

Bio and photo provided