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Barry turns 60 on Monday. The engineer, scientist and retired NASA astronaut was born Dec. 30, 1953, in Norwalk.
He was appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and in the Bioengineering Program at the University of Michigan in 1985, and his tenure was approved by the regents in 1992.
His research involves biological signal processing, including signal processing theory, algorithms, and applications to specific biological systems.
Barry has also worked in prosthetic design and his work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Grass Foundation, and the American Heart Association of Michigan.
He has published more than 50 articles in scientific journals and served on two scientific journal editorial boards.
Barry was selected by NASA in March 1992 and qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews.
A veteran of three space flights, STS-72 in 1996, STS-96 in 1999 and STS-105 in 2001, Barry logged more than 734 hours in space, including four spacewalks totaling 25 hours and 53 minutes.
On the STS-72 mission, he and a Japanese astronaut were the first people to play "Go" in space. They received the honorary award of Ni Dan rank by the Nihon Kiin, making him one of only four Western Go players to receive such an award.
He was a contestant on the CBS reality television program "Survivor: Panama-Exile Island."
He is the head of faculty at Singularity University and a co-founder of 9th Sense Robotics, a telepresence robotics company.
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