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Women@NASA: Hard Work And Passion Helps Dream Fall Into Place

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Day one for me at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is best remembered as OBA –Overwhelmed By Acronyms. I felt like a stranger in another world. All through graduate school I envisioned my future as an academic professor. I love to teach. I get great satisfaction out of sharing my enthusiasm for science and encouraging paths to discovery, especially when it is returned to me by others. When it came time to seek out that job, I felt the university tenure system would undermine my personal and professional wellness, so I broadened my future vision –that is when my career path took an abrupt change of course. The Science Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument team was looking for an organic biogeochemist to work on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and future astrobiology missions. It was a natural fit and a fortuitous opportunity. In retrospect, I think I was destined for NASA without ever knowing it.

I come from a family of engineers and technicians. My father contributed to some of the electrical connections used on the Space Shuttle. Like him, I was an inquisitive kid and enjoyed science at school, but I also loved art. It was on the return drive from visiting James Madison University, where I would eventually attend for my undergraduate degree, that my career path set its course. The rolling blue-green mountains were awe-inspiring. I decided right then and there that I wanted to know how they got there. What forces of nature brought them to their gentle majesty? Curiosity got the best of me. Keep reading →

Post a comment  /   /  Published December 4, 2012 at 7:00 AM

OPM Announces Dismissal and Closure Procedures Winter Season

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The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has released dismissal and closure procedures in anticipation of the winter weather months.

OPM has announced a new policy addition to the list of dismissal options that instructs employees to stay off of the roads until a certain time because of unsafe conditions. This option was informally implemented during the 2011-2012 winter season to help ensure the safety of federal employees preparing to commute into work. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 28, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Women@NASA: 30 Year Employee Draws Advice From Own Work Experience

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It has been such an honor to be part of the NASA and GSFC team for more than 30 years. I still love it and am enthusiastic about coming to work each day!

In looking back, I can’t say that I started with a grand plan when I was younger about where my career would go but I can say that I had a passion about space and, in particular, astronomy. I was fascinated about the detail I could see when I trained my first telescope on the Moon and this passion fueled my desire to pick Astronomy as my major at University of Maryland. Getting that degree was not easy for me. I had no particular natural talent for the complex math and multi-dimensional thought process one needed to understand and complete the course work. There were days when I thought I just couldn’t do it. But, one of the skills I do have is resilience and this got me through. I asked for help repeatedly, pestered those that had that natural talent, scoured every physics and astronomy book in the library and became a fixture in the lab. It worked and I got better at the material. Keep reading →

Post a comment  /   /  Published November 27, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Women@NASA: Familiar Job Continues To Provide Rewarding Challenges

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I attended an all girls vocational public school in Washington, DC. During high school, I studied Secretarial Science, and in the 11th grade, I was asked by the Guidance Counselor to assist with after school office duties. I duplicated documents, organized and filed papers and reports, and typed reports from rough draft. In the 12th grade, I met the graduation requirements and earned a cooperative education (co-op) assignment with the Federal government. My 11th Grade Guidance Counselor recommended me for the assignment at NASA, where I worked half days while earning my diploma. My first day at NASA was very exciting and scary. I worked as a student aide to the Space Science office where I was mentored by the lead secretary. She groomed me to be the employee I am today. She was very exacting in her expectations and frowned upon anyone who made excuses. This began my work ethic training.

I learned early that if you work diligently, the impossible can happen. If assigned an unusual task, try to complete it even if you are not familiar with it. In every experience, you learn something and gain recognition as a productive employee, without expecting anything in return. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 20, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Online Tool Aids Governments In Disaster Recovery

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After two 20-something sisters lived through a tornado and its aftermath in their Massachusetts hometown last year, they vowed to transform a well-intentioned but unorganized disaster-recovery process.

The resulting online tool, recovers.org, is now helping local governments and nonprofits coordinate Hurricane Sandy relief efforts through a concept known as “community-powered” recovery. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 20, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Veterans Fill Technology Workforce Gap Through Private Programs

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American companies and industry organizations are ramping up efforts that began last year to help employ returning veterans and meet growing IT workforce needs.

Private training and mentoring programs are bridging the knowledge and training gaps for veterans as federal agencies begin to process the influx of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. Private efforts aimed at training for private industry and government jobs are also in response to President Barack Obama’s call last year for American firms and associations to help 100,000 veterans re-enter the workforce by the end of 2013. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 19, 2012 at 12:00 PM

How Good Is Your Government?

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This feature showcases one video each Friday that captures the essence of innovation, technology and new ideas happening in government today.

This week’s video is courtesy of Stanford University. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 16, 2012 at 3:30 PM

Women@NASA: Day-Dream Job Becomes Reality

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As an elementary student and continuing through high school, I learned how to work hard and earn a living. At a very young age, I learned how to gather Manila clams and blue crabs at the bay, worked as a fish vendor, and as a young adult, I became a seamstress. At one point, I even learned and manufactured brown paper bags and sold bundles of them at the nearby grocery stores. In my youth, I learned how to do all kinds of housework.

In my elementary school, I remember when I was a fifth grade student, NASA had become a popular name in every corner of the world. I was about 10 or 11 years old when Echo-1 launched into orbit. Shortly after this significant event, our elementary school’s social studies teacher wrote acronyms on the classroom chalkboard – and one of them was NASA. She asked the class what it stood for. After hearing the answer, our teacher said that NASA is one of the government agencies in the United States of America, where astronauts and scientists work. From that moment, I wondered what America looked like. “Are all the homes made of bricks and concrete? Is the soil the same? Do they have lots of trees?” I used to climb trees when I was young. “Are there lots of tall buildings?” Believe it or not, I started wondering if one day, we might live in America. Then I thought, “What happens when I grow up and maybe someday work for NASA? Will they take me? Will they let me work there?” Although I asked myself those questions, I also thought it was an unrealistic dream. I didn’t know what made me think that, or why I had that idea, when in reality, it was not going to happen. I walked two miles home from school, still thinking about that little “day dream. “ Keep reading →

 /  Published November 14, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Crowdsourcing Aids FEMA In Mapping Sandy Recovery

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Our Video of the Week feature showcases a selected video each Friday that captures the essence of innovation, technology and new ideas happening in government today.

This week’s video and text courtesy of FEMA.


Keep reading →

 /  Published November 9, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Women@NASA: First Internship Results in Career

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When I started working at NASA, I still didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. On my very first day, I was barely 16 years old. I was part of a high school summer internship program – my first job ever! Everything was so exciting – even filling out tax forms! I remember getting my program folder that held my assignment: the Procurement Division. Then I remember sheepishly asking, “what exactly is that?” I was taken to meet all of the people I would be working with that summer. Until then adults were always “Mr. or Ms. So and So”. Everyone was being introduced by their first name and I got so nervous because I didn’t know how I was going to address them! During my first week, I was asked to call the grants office at MIT to get some information from the office so their grant money could be processed. All I could think was, “I don’t even know how to drive a car. I’m supposed to call one of the most famous universities in the world and help them?” I very quickly learned that at NASA, even at 16, I was treated as a peer and respected professionally. It was a powerful lesson! Everyone believed in me and wanted me to succeed. I did call MIT, and I did help them. As the summer progressed, it was easy to see everyone as co-workers and friends, rather than “grown-ups”. My confidence in myself grew as I was given more and more responsibility. By my second summer I identified my own project and was given the freedom to plan and execute it. I did 4 summer and 2 winter break rotations; the maximum I was allowed. At the end of my 4th summer, the director of the division asked if I would consider changing my major from history to business so he could hire me as a co-op and eventually a full-time employee. It was difficult, but I knew I had to turn him down. As much as I loved NASA and adored the people I worked with, my interest didn’t lie in business. I knew I had to follow my heart, be true to myself and trust that if NASA was where I was meant to be, it would be!

History had always been my favorite subject and I knew that I wanted a career that somehow involved that. I thought maybe I would work in a museum or for the park service. The last two years of college I worked in the university archives and was hooked! I decided I would pursue a master’s degree in Library Science at the University of Maryland and become an archivist. When I got to Library School, I learned about the related field of records and information management. After the first semester I started looking for a summer job back home in Cleveland. And guess who was looking for a co-op in the field of archives and records management? If you guessed NASA – you’d be right. The odds of this job coming up when I was looking are about slim to none. Blessed. That’s me! So, I did something bold. I called the person who would be the position mentor and flat out said, “I am the only person in the world who can do this job.” Following my heart 3 years earlier had paid off. Being at NASA was meant to be! Keep reading →

 /  Published November 6, 2012 at 7:00 AM
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