Mr. Strickland has been an active member of space- and science-related
organizations since 1961, when he joined the American Rocket Society
as a student member. In 1975 he joined both the National Space
Institute and the L-5 Society — the "parents" of NSS. He was the
founder of the Austin Space Frontier Society and has served as its
chairman from 1981 to the present. He created the Robert A. Heinlein
Memorial Award for the National Space Society in 1988, (shortly
after the author's death), and has managed the award from its
inception. He also works on the design and production of the Von
Braun Award.
In 1988, Mr. Strickland was a founder of the NSS Chapters Assembly,
and served as one of its officers. His involvement with both Austin
environmental groups and CSICOP — a national group working for
better science coverage and less pseudo-science in the mass media
— has given him a unique perspective on such controversial issues
as energy vs. environment.
Since 1976, Mr. Strickland has produced articles for "The Humanist,"
"L5 News," "Ad Astra," "Space News," "Solar Power," and other local
and regional publications. His articles have focused primarily on
national space policy, access to space and space solar power. His
creation of a slide show and talk in 1990, explaining and promoting
space solar power to non-technical audiences, led to the publication
of his first technical SPS article in 1995, and a second in 1996.
He served as the director for science and space programming (about
50 events) at the 1997 LoneStarCon World Science Fiction Convention.
He contributed a comprehensive chapter on energy systems in the
book, "Solar Power Satellites - a Space Energy System for Earth,"
edited by Dr. Peter Glaser et al., and published by Wiley-Praxis
in 1998. He since has contributed several additional technical
papers and presentations to the Mars Society's 1999 convention, the
Wireless Power Transmission Conference of 2001 and the World Space
Congress in 2002. He is a director of the Sunsat Energy Council.
He has also been a moderate Delegate to the Texas State Republican
Convention in 2000, 2002, and 2004, where he facilitated the inclusion
of pro-space items into the state platform.
Mr. Strickland lived for 30 years in western New York before moving
to Austin, Texas in 1976. He received a B. A. in Anthropology with
a minor in Biology from SUNY at Buffalo in 1967, and a second B.A.
in Computer Science from St. Edwards University in Austin in 1986.
He also earned graduate credits in both Anthropology and Biology.
He has been a professional programmer and analyst since 1980, and
has been employed as a Senior Programmer/Analyst for the State of
Texas in Austin since July, 1989.
Some online publications by John Strickland:
