NASA Headquarters

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  NASA Headquarters

  Madhulika Guhathakurta

  As a child growing up in middle-class India, Lika would drive her father up the wall with her curiosity. Even at tender age of high school, she knew if she did not pursue science, her desire to pursue questions of physics and meta-physics would never be a reality.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Tuesday Dodson

  Tuesday Dodson was young, unemployed and needed work. Her inspiration for working with NASA came from her oldest sister. She was at NASA when the Challenger tragedy happened and it helped to shape her into a proud and dedicated employee who truly understands that NASA is a place where she could make a difference.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Sarah Noble

  Sarah Noble grew up in rural Minnesota, where from a very young age she was fascinated with space exploration, staring up at the moon and making plans to visit it one day.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Dava Newman

  Dava remembers watching multiple moon landings on TV in her hometown of Helena, Montana and being fascinated that human beings could actually be walking on the moon that she saw from her backyard. From the moon, Dava’s attention turned to the solar system and stars, of which there are many visible in Big Sky country. She learned to dream, to explore, and that nature and machines had much to teach her.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Nancy Searby

  Nancy Searby was raised by a dad in the Air Force and a mom who stayed home to take care of her four daughters. One of her worst school memories, and yet one that was so formative, was when she attended elementary school in Bossier City, Louisiana in the 1960’s. Nancy attended school on the first day of desegregation, black and white students coming together.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Sarah Dewitt

  Sarah spent four years falling in love with the natural world. As a geology major, she spent the bulk of her college career exploring national parks, volcanoes, and canyons all over the western United States. But when it came time to graduate, she faced a tough realization. She did not want to pursue a career in science. She did not have the burning desire to get a Ph.D. or be a professor. She just wanted to be outside.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Monica Bowie

  Monica’s mother’s example taught her that hard work pays off. She was a single parent raising five children, and she remains Monica’s inspiration. From her mother, she learned three fundamental life lessons: to be true to herself; to be honest, regardless of the situation; and for every blessing she receives, to help someone else.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Darlene Boykins

  For Darlene Y. Boykins, her path to NASA began as a cooperative education (co-op) student for NASA. Ms. Boykins was born in Washington, D.C. and is a native Washingtonian.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Tahani Amer

  Tahani Amer discovered her natural passion and inclination for engineering while watching her father fixing his car’s engine as she sat inside her small Egyptian apartment. While her love of math created a clear path for a mechanical and aerospace engineering future, it was great teachers and her father that encouraged and guided Dr. Amer.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Hashima Hasan

  Hashima Hasan’s love for space started when as a five-year old she stood in her grand parents’ backyard in India and watched Sputnik go by overhead. She had no idea how she would achieve her dream to become a scientist and attend Oxford University, as her uncle and grand uncles had done. But achieve it, she did.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Toni Mumford

  For Toni Mumford, a “positive attitude and a willingness to take risks” … really paid off in career at NASA

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  NASA Headquarters

  Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac

  Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac is a planner—one who puts an extraordinary amount of effort into mapping out what should happen next in life. So perhaps it’s a bit ironic that all planning in the world ultimately landed her in a career that she never dreamed she would achieve

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  NASA Headquarters

  Nanette Jennings

  Growing up in an inner city as a child born into a single-parent household, Nanette Jennings’ hopes for a bright future seemed hopelessly compromised.

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  NASA Headquarters

  Lori Garver

  My interest in space stems from my belief that what we have done, are doing, and can do in space is critical to the future of humanity. Throughout my career—whether it was working directly for NASA, training in Russia to become a space flight participant, advising aerospace corporations how best to help NASA be successful, or having the honor of being the lead for civil space policy for the Obama Presidential Campaign and transition team—I have worked toward that goal.