Activist, Advocate, Astronaut and Author

On Tuesday, March 11, at 7 p.m., Whitman College will host activist, advocate, astronaut and author Amanda Nguyen as the next Third Space Speaker. Nguyen’s long-awaited memoir, “Saving Five,” just dropped yesterday. As noted by People magazine, the book follows Nguyen “from the violent turmoil of her childhood to her role as a civil rights activist today.”

During her senior year as an undergraduate student at Harvard in 2013, Nguyen was raped. Following the incident, she endured a six-hour sexual assault forensic examination (or “rape kit”). At that time, however, this type of evidence was discarded by the state after six months of non-use. Nguyen would go on to advocate and petition for a change in the practice and protect the legal rights of survivors.

Nguyen’s advocacy resulted in the passage of the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act of 2016, which established statutory rights for sexual assault survivors, including the right to: 

• Not be prevented from receiving a forensic medical examination and not be charged for an examination
• Have a sexual assault evidence collection kit preserved for 20 years or the maximum applicable statute of limitations, whichever is shorter
• Receive written notification prior to destruction or disposal of a rape kit
• Be informed of these rights and policies

This law is one of only a handful of laws to be passed unanimously in Congress.

Nguyen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, founded the organization Rise and was named a Time Woman of the Year in 2022. That same year, Nguyen helped pass a similar resolution with the United Nations to protect the rights of survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse. Nguyen also made meaningful contributions to the Stop Asian Hate Movement in 2021. 

Nguyen is a bioastronautics research scientist. She has conducted research at Harvard Center for Astrophysics, MIT, NASA and International Institute for Astronautical Sciences. As noted by Blue Origin, Nguyen worked on the last NASA shuttle mission, STS-135, and the Kepler exoplanet mission. The all-female group, known as the Space Sisters, will crew the Blue Origins NS-31 launch scheduled for later this spring, and Nguyen will become the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman astronaut.

The Third Space Speaker Series is supported by the Johnston-Fix Foundation, and Amanda’s visit is co-sponsored by the Whitman Events Board. Join us in Reid Campus Center Young Ballroom for what will certainly be an amazing event.