Professor Bruckner graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada in 1966 with a B. Engr. in Honours Mechanical Engineering, and was a recipient of the British Association Medal. He received his PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 1972 from Princeton University and joined the University of Washington as a Research Associate in the Aerospace and Energetics Research Program the same year. He was department Chair from 1998 until 2010, and is one of the founding members of the University’s Astrobiology Program.