NASA CAREERS FREE

I am seeing a significantly broadening interest in corporate, government and even academic leadership to identify, incorporate and share best practices to recruit, retain and promote women in STEM postitions.ĭid you have a mentor when you began to conduct research or do you still have a mentor? Do you believe that mentorship programs can play a big role in helping girls take their idea and turn it into something tangible?įrom the first day that I officially started working at NASA, I have always had a mentor. This year, I conducted my second ”Sustaining Women in STEM Roundtable” with participation of just over 160 participants from 50 government, industry, local and non-profit organizations, and 562 online participants from 10 countries. We have had two women directors at the National Science Foundation and our first woman Deputy Administrator at NASA. While there are still challenges that need to be addressed for women in research, we have seen more women in leadership positions across the industry. What do you see is improving for women in research? What other innovations in your industry are exciting to you? When hardworking women are faced with having to make a choice between rearing a family and climbing the ladder at work, we lose great talent. They often are not paid salaries on par with their male counterparts, and they are often penalized for prioritizing family responsibilities. There are multiple issues that must be addressed along the pipeline, but once they get into the workforce, we must also make sure we have an environment that sustains them. Young girls need to be exposed to STEM fields and careers in a fun, appealing way when they are in elementary or middle school. I believe it starts with getting girls in the pipeline very early. What are the biggest concerns regarding the gender gap for women in research? Is it a fear of feeling too masculine, deficient self-confidence, a lack of opportunity, the pay gap?

NASA CAREERS FREE

The cutters that we developed to solve this problem are now called the “Jaws of Life” and are used by fire and rescue workers every day to cut roofs and doors off of automobiles to free accident victims who are trapped inside. For example, we had to find a way for an astronaut on the International Space Station to cut metal in zero gravity with no assistance. What is the absolute best part about working at NASA and the space industry?Įveryday, we achieve the impossible and help to improve the quality of life for all citizens in ways that they don’t even know. This environment demands diverse thinking, which means diverse people who bring diverse life experiences to the solutions they propose. In an environment where the mission is so important and so difficult, out-of-the-box thinking is required in order to achieve the impossible. I found that there would always be one in the bunch that wanted to discredit females, but there were so many others that would intentionally support us, encourage us and mentor us. Even though I felt privileged every day to be serving our country in one of the greatest and most exciting agencies our country has to offer, I found myself having to work twice as hard and be twice as good to earn the respect that my male counterparts earned so easily. I had the most eye-opening experiences regarding gender differences after entering the workforce at NASA. Many times, I was in classes where I was the only female and the only minority in the classroom, and the examples used in classroom discussions were tailored to the male experience. However, once I got to grad school at Penn State in the engineering department, a world of differences was brought to light. In the physics program that I attended in undergraduate school, my professors showed no favoritism or difference in expectations based upon gender. Up until becoming the director of R&D for Goddard Space Flight Center, can you describe your experience as a minority female in the sciences? You were the first African American woman deputy center director at NASA. This also includes transferring technologies we develop to the private industry for their use in commercializing new products and improving the quality of life for all. I am responsible for charting the course of our future, such as determining which science missions we want to pursue and establishing an integrated investment portfolio to enable those missions. I am the deputy center director for Technology and Research Investments. Can you explain in a few sentences your role at NASA?

Nasa careers