12 s e p t e m b e r � o c t o b e r 2002 Ad Astra to the stars

FIN@L FRONTIER:

Diversity ^nd

Bobbie FishmanReceptionist

JPL

Iam not a serious Star Trek fan. No dressing up,no conventions, I can’t do the Vulcan greeting

salute and I really can’t say that I’ve watched manyof the latest iterations spawned by the original1960s television show. But one thing I alwaysadmired about Gene Roddenberry’s vision of “StarFleet” was that space exploration and humanity’sfuture would be an adventure shared by everyone.Back when the original program was airing in1966-67, NASA was the real space program butit was one that looked very different from themulticultural bridge of the Enterprise. Aerospaceengineering and the astronaut corps were predomi-nantly a white male culture.

Nearly four decades later, today’s NASA isarguably the most diverse agency of the federal gov-ernment. Most of the current generation that com-prises the NASA workforce grew up watching thehalcyon days of the Apollo program on television orthe first flights of the space shuttle. For many, whilethey were fascinated and inspired by the space pro-gram, it was difficult to picture themselves workingin, on, or for space.

NASA’s current diversity is reflected not just inthe myriad of jobs and programs but in the storiesof the people that carry on that work. They come towork to explore the origin and evolution of the uni-verse, to develop new technologies, organize hugedatabases, fly into orbit, organize finances andanswer telephones. Every NASA field center is filledwith fascinating people whose personal journeys areat times courageous and inspiring. The are the mul-tihued threads that make up a rich tapestry but allshare a common bond—they love the work theydo. There are thousands of people that work forNASA. This story provides but a glimpse of thelives and careers of a few.

RECEPTIONIST TO THE STARS

Nestled into an arroyo at the base of the SanGabriel Mountains, NASA’s Jet PropulsionLaboratory looks more like a college campus than atypical sprawling field center like those found in

Texas and Florida. But it is here that some of themost cutting edge research and exploration in theworld (and off it) is conducted. If you visit or havebusiness to attend to—your first encounter withJPL will probably be with a cheerful and enthusias-tic receptionist named Bobbie Fishman.

An African-American woman going throughdivorce 23 years ago, Fishman was working in pro-fessional development when the chance to work atJPL presented itself. “I wasn’t very happy at the timeand frankly, my attitude toward men was rathernegative. But being here, with these wonderful peo-ple changed my life,” said the exuberant reception-ist. “Some of the most decent men in the worldwork here and it really has been 23 years of themost wonderful, incredible life.”

Fishman’s warm and positive attitude are neces-sary attributes for someone who has to screen allvisitors to JPL. “It’s my job to greet and screen allvisitors to the lab,” she explains. “It really is excitingbecause I’ve met people from every walk of life fromroyalty to movie stars and school groups, scientistsand world leaders.” Fishman fondly recalls one suchepisode that took even her by surprise. “It was backin the 1980s and I was putting some lotion on myhands when this man walked in. He just kind ofcarried himself like he owned the place and when Iglanced at his name tag—lotion went everywhereand I dropped a folder of papers all over the floor.”The visitor was Neil Armstrong. During her tenure,Fishman has also greeted such luminaries as CarlSagan, Nichelle Nichols (“Uhura” on the originalStar Trek series), Gene Roddenberry, JamesMichener and more names than could be droppedat the swankest Hollywood party!

Active in all of JPL’s social affairs, Fishman hasserved as a leader of the JPL campus community,working as MC for their Arts and Crafts Fair andhas even written and performed in plays for thecommunity of scientists and engineers. During oneproduction of South Pacific, Fishman played BloodyMary and was particularly taken by the charmingleading man named Dick that she was on stage with.

Later her husband informed her that she had beenacting alongside the legendary physicist RichardFeynmann. “That’s the wonderful thing about thescientists here, especially the ones that I get to know.They are so brilliant and I don’t understand half ofthe stuff they do—but they take the time to explainit to me. I’ve learned so much working here!”

THE WIZARDS OF PASADENA

Indeed, some of the brightest young minds in theworld are drawn to work at the famous laboratoryin the Southern California foothills. From here,spacecraft like Voyager and Galileo, Viking and MarsOdyssey have plumbed the depths of the solar sys-tem. While the “golden age” of planetary explo-ration was funded by the large budgets of theApollo era, a new breed of young engineers and sci-entists is working on plans for future explorationsof the Moon, Mars and beyond. Two young Latinomen exemplify the interesting and exciting workbeing done at JPL.

Alberto Behar was a year-old infant when his par-ents decided to leave Fidel Castro’s Cuba in 1967.Members of the island’s Sephardic Jewish populacethat was unable to worship freely under the commu-nist regime, Behar’s parents emigrated to Venezuelafor a year before coming to the United States. As achild, Behar was fascinated by space. “When I wasabout seven or eight, I wanted to be an astronaut,”said Behar. “I checked out all of the books on spaceI could at the library and that’s when I first remem-ber learning of JPL. The Viking missions in 1976really turned on my interest in space science.”

Growing up in Florida, Behar was selected for aspecial class in robotics in high school and then wenton to earn his BS in Engineering at the University ofFlorida. With the goal of shooting for a NASAcareer, Behar decided to attend RensselaerPolytechnic Institute. The New York College wasranked as one of the top engineering schools in thenation and a feeder program for NASA’s engineeringcorps. Like many of his generation, fate took a handin the form of a national tragedy. Behar had hoped

to join an IBM-sponsored cooperative at theJohnson Space Center in Houston but the programwas cancelled in 1987 while NASA was reeling fromthe Challenger disaster. Finally, at the ripe age of 24,Behar found himself a NASA employee when hewas picked up by JPL for Artificial Intelligencework. “I was working on intelligent tutors but whatI really wanted was to go into robotics,” recalledBehar. “After transitioning into the robotics group atJPL, I went to the University of Southern Californiato earn my Ph.D.”

Wanting to work on cutting edge research,Behar returned from a year in Japan, a brilliantpostdoc looking for his next project when one ofthe JPL managers he had worked with, LonnieLane, gave Behar an exciting new direction. “Hetold me, ‘I’ve got this thing for you—get a jacket’”The next thing the young engineer knew, he was ona plane bound for Antarctica. For three months,Behar and his team worked in the closest environ-mental analog to Mars that can be found on Earth.His work on the Antarctic Ice Borehole ProbeProject helped to lay foundational work for futuresensor probes that might plumb the secret depths of

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Tod^y’s N@S@BY DAVID SCHLOM

NASA’s current diversity is reflected not just

in the myriad of jobs and programs but in

the stories of the people that carry on that work.

Every NASA field center is filled with fascinating

people whose personal journeys are at times

courageous and inspiring.

the Martian polar regions or unlock the secrets ofthe frigid oceans on the Galilean satellite Europa.His glaciological investigations will also be impor-tant for the proposed mission to have a cryobotwith sensors to investigate the North Polar region ofthe red planet in 2007.

While Alberto Behar is investigating the use of sen-sors and robotics in extreme environments, a fellowHispanic scientist has been working with a team onthe cutting edge of supplying energy to future spacetravelers as well as those of us who remain bound tothis planet. Thomas Valdez, a brilliant young chemicalengineer, has had a steady but unconventional path toscientific renown at NASA. Like most of the personsinterviewed for this story, Valdez found his inspirationat a young age. “I was in third grade on a field trip toJPL when we got to see Columbia’s maiden flight backin 1981,” said Valdez. “I remember thinking I wantedto work at something like that.”

Good science educators who encouraged theyoung Hispanic student in his inquiries and afamous mathematics teacher laid the foundationsfor his future in the space program. At GarfieldHigh School in East Los Angeles, Valdez foundhimself enrolled in Jaime Escalante’s rigorous math-ematics classes for three years. Escalante’s passionfor teaching Latino students was made famous inthe movie Stand and Deliver, starring Edward JamesOlmos. “Mr. Escalante helped further my love forscience by helping me to see the deeper meanings ofmy experiments in the data. He helped me in dataanalysis and taught me discipline as a student.”

Valdez story is reminiscent of a famousHollywood actress who was discovered at a sodafountain. He literally went from working atMcDonald’s to JPL overnight. “I was accepted intoa program that took students from underdevelopedand represented minority communities and thatwas a great opportunity for me. After receiving hisdegree in material science from the University ofCalifornia at Irvine, Valdez has continued to workat JPL and is currently pursuing his doctoral degreefrom USC. With dogged determination he learnedfrom teachers like Escalante and his science teacherArt Callahan, Valdez is the youngest person withthe most experience at JPL. He has turned his con-siderable talents toward solving a problem thatcould make space exploration more practical.

“I am working on a team of scientists and engi-neers that are developing the next generation of fuelcells,” explains the engineer. “They are called PEM(Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) fuel cells.” Insteadof converting hydrogen and oxygen into water and

electricity like the fuel cells currently used byNASA, the JPL’s new fuel cells convert carbon diox-ide gas into methanol. The result is that both ausable fuel and electricity are produced. “This hastremendous implications for the future because youeliminate the need (and cost) of having to take somuch hydrogen fuel with you and you are recyclingthe waste gas (carbon dioxide) that is produced byrespiration.” In a recent demonstration for thenational media, the group demonstrated a cellphone powered by PEM technology.

For Valdez, diversity has presented opportunitiesrather than barriers to his success and he hopes toinspire young Hispanic students to pursue careersin science and technology. “In science, diversity isour strength,” said Valdez “It seems like everyone inthe sciences is from different races and you hear lotsof accents and languages but the language of mathand science is universal and you are truly judged bythe quality of your work.”

A DIVERSE CENTER BY THE BAY

NASA’s Northern California field center, AmesResearch Center in Mountain View, is reflective ofthe cultural diversity of the Bay Area. One of theworld’s most brilliant atmospheric scientists is cur-rently working there and her tale is one of triumphover the most precipitous of cultural barriers. As alittle girl growing up in Iran, Azadeh Tabazadeh wasfascinated by nature and particularly loved workingwith her chemistry set. The instructions were inGerman and she couldn’t understand them but bystudying diagrams and reasoning it out, she beganto conduct her first experiments. But under thefundamentalist Islamic regime in power, herchances of ever putting her interest and potential towork were severely limited.

“It is disgusting, the oppressive way of treatingwomen in Iran,” said the Ames scientist. “Butopportunities are not there for men either. Notmany get to attend university.”

At 17 years old, Tabazadeh, her older brotherand cousin (who were about to be conscripted intothe war with Iraq in 1982) escaped Iran with a fewthousand dollars in cash. It was a journey her father(who now resides in Torrance, California) was orig-inally against because of the inherent danger. But bycar, motorcycle and foot the young Iranians escapedwith the help of smugglers over the mountains intoPakistan. Eventually, they made it to the UnitedStates and an opportunity for the young woman touse her brilliant mind for the benefit of science.After learning English, Tabazadeh’s dream came

14 s e p t e m b e r � o c t o b e r 2002 Ad Astra to the stars

Alberto BeharAI Engineer

JPL

Thomas ValdezChemical Engineer

JPL

NA

SAN

ASA

true as she found herself studying chemistry at theUniversity of California-Los Angeles.

Tabazadeh found herself under the brilliant tute-lage of UCLA atmospheric chemist Richard Turcoand also met her future husband, who is currently acivil engineering professor at Stanford. Tabazadeh wasimmersed in studying one of the hottest areas ofatmospheric science, the mysterious ozone hole overAntarctica. Her pioneering work on the phasechanges of particles at the molecular level helped tounlock the secrets of the physics involved in the polarstratospheric environment. Now the mother of twoyoung children, Tabazadeh balances the hectic life ofa young mother who also happens to be an award-winning scientist at the cutting edge.

Ozone depletion and global warming are two ofthe most serious environmental science issues con-fronting NASA’s scientists, and along with Owen B.Toon of the University of Colorado-Boulder,Tabazadeh and her colleagues have made tremen-dous strides in our understanding. Working mostlyat her computer, Tabazadeh has modeled mecha-nisms that show, contrary to the claims of some,that chlorine pumped into the upper atmosphereby volcanic eruptions is washed out by precipitationbefore it reaches the stratospheric ozone, indicatingthat the phenomenon is most likely the results ofhuman industrial chlorine use.

For her work, Tabazadeh has been awarded aprestigious Presidential medal and recently receivedthe James B. Macelwane medal during a meeting ofthe American Geophysical Union. Her colleaguesdescribe her as tenacious, stubborn and extremelynice. She is also grateful for the opportunities shehas received in this country. “This is a great coun-try,” said Tabazadeh. “The people in Islamic coun-tries want to be like this but the education is notthere. It is very sad really.”

For one other NASA employee at Ames, makingsure that opportunities in math and science are avail-able for youngsters in this country is a prime directive.Sheila Johnson is a community relations coordinatorwhose many duties includes organizing VIP tours forthe center. During her tenure, she planned Ames six-tieth anniversary party that traced the Moffett Field’sroots back to its days as part of NASA’s precursororganization, the NACA. She hosted PresidentClinton and has had her picture taken with currentNASA administrator Sean O’Keefe. But politicalluminaries and Hollywood stars are not what driveJohnson; it is the underrepresented youth in her com-munity that she actively seeks to draw into the NASAculture of education and literacy.

“NASA encourages volunteerism,” said theAfrican-American woman. “I have been involvedwith the National Coalition of 100 Black Women tohelp bring young ladies into math, science and tech-nology.” Johnson has helped a program to providescholarships for young girls in grades four throughsix to attend Space Camp and other math and sci-ence related activities. Ames is reflective of theUnited States’ demographics as only four percent ofAmes employees are African-American. When look-ing at the scientists and engineers, the figure dropsto two percent. This is not surprising when onceconsiders the culture of poverty that most youngblack Americans grow up in. Other than NativeAmericans, African Americans have the highest per-centage of children growing up in poverty at a stag-gering figure of 33.1% nationally. Johnson is notonly a role model for youngsters but also a personwho is working hard to create opportunities.

“I was working for the L.A. Unified SchoolDistrict when I attended a Department of Defensejob fair,” as Johnson describes how she came towork for the agency. “I was recruited by NASA andhave been here for 22 years. I love my work becauseit is so fascinating and exciting. I get to meet foreigndignitaries, celebrities, and people from all walks oflife. The most amazing thing is that the people thatwork here are so talented in their private lives theyare multifaceted—multidimensional.”

While Ames no longer hosts a Space Camp,Johnson is still reaching out to young people, espe-cially African-American girls in her community. “Weare fund raising for scholarships to send youngstersto math and science camps at places like Stanfordand Santa Clara University. I have always tried to beinvolved and give back in my community.”

At the end of her busy days, Johnson reflects on

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“It is disgusting, the oppressive way of treating

women in Iran, But opportunities are not there for

men either. Not many get to attend university.”

Azadeh Tabazadeh, Atmospheric Scientist

Ames Research Center

the lot of a public servant working for a high profileagency like NASA. “People tend to forget that gov-ernment employees are just like them,” Johnsonmused. “It’s not about the money, it is about thework that you do. I met the Minister of Science andEducation of Japan the other day and that was quitea thrill. Once when William Shatner visited here thescientists and engineers were like little kids in a candystore. They were so excited by this man who isn’t ascientist but who obviously is fascinated by them.”

DESKTOP EXPLORATIONS

For one little girl who grew up in Roanoke,Virginia, watching Star Trek and Star Wars andother portrayals of the Final Frontier led to aninterest in science at school and a lifelong passion tolearn more about space. Like so many, she dreamedof becoming an astronaut, found that she probablywasn’t best suited to wear a space suit and woundup unlocking the mysteries of deep space from hercomputers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centerin Maryland. Beth Brown is the first African-American woman to obtain a doctorate in astrono-my, from the University of Michigan’s prestigiousDepartment of Astronomy.

“I was the only black woman there at the begin-ning and graduated in 1998,” said the Ph.D. “WhereI grew up in suburban Roanoke you really couldn’tsee the stars very well. I was in a summer program inJunior High when we were taken to a small observa-tory. I remember seeing M-57 (the Ring Nebula inLyra) and thinking ‘is this real?’” Brown pursued herinterest in college by studying Physics at HowardUniversity before ending up at Michigan. After serv-ing a pair of internships at Goddard during her col-lege days, Brown wound up as a NASA astrophysi-cist with truly awesome responsibilities.

At Goddard, the National Space Science DataCenter is the permanent data acquisition and stor-age facility for NASA’s space science missions. Withmissions such as the Chandra X-Ray Observatoryconstantly helping astronomers to revolutionizetheir understanding of everything from Black Holesto colliding galaxies, the job of maintaining and act-ing as a bridge to other researchers is Brown’s mainduty. “I had no idea when I began my educationthat this is what I would be doing,” said Brown. “Iwork with everything including data from the 1970sto the most current missions.” Her area of researchis in high-energy studies of elliptical galaxies thatshine brightly in the x-ray region of the electromag-netic spectrum. “I love my job because I get to workon different things and space continues to fascinate

me. Like any job it can get frustrating but I seemyself staying here for a few years.” Brown is also aformer Administrative Executive Officer for theNational Society of Black Physicists.

Keeping track of NASA’s burgeoning databasesis one of the most daunting tasks facing the currentgeneration of NASA managers. Maria So came tobe one of the agency’s ultimate number crunchersdespite the fact that she began her academic lifewith an interest in the arts. From the ChineseUniversity at Hong Kong, So was accepted as anexchange student at the University of California atBerkeley where she earned her degree in Fine Arts.From there she was accepted to the BrooklynPolytechnic Institution where she began to moredeeply pursue her minor in math and statistics. Itwas one of So’s professors that gave her a piece ofsage advice that would lead her eventually toAmerica’s space program.

“A professor of mine told me that I should find arich husband if I wanted to continue with art,” Sorecalled. “He encouraged me to pursue computerscience and I’m glad I did. Her ex-husband wasworking at Goddard and she became more and moreinterested in working for NASA. “When I came towork for NASA it really was a dream come true.”

So went to work managing the databases for theNational Space Science Data Center and was a con-tractor section manager on the Hubble SpaceTelescope program. She was responsible for the pay-load database that sent commands to the orbitingobservatory and helped in the building of the infor-mation system used by Hubble. “I worked underDr. John Campbell (currently the center directorfor Wallops) and he really inspired me and provid-ed great direction,” said So.

Under her tutelage, So has transformed theNASA technology inventory database that keepstrack of more than $1.6 billion of technology devel-opment. Her work enables managers, scientists andengineers to identify trends in technology and iscritical in the decision-making process for makingpolicy decisions. Along with this tremendousresponsibility, So also feels a need to be an inspira-tion to others, especially Asian-Americans. “I wouldlike to inspire the other Asian-Americans at ourcenters. There is the stereotypical misconceptionthat Asians only want to work in technology butthat isn’t true. I see the future getting even better forpeople like me in management positions. So is cur-rently the Asian-American Advisory Committeechairperson at Goddard, overseeing the well-beingconcerns of the center’s diverse population.

16 s e p t e m b e r � o c t o b e r 2002 Ad Astra to the stars

Beth BrownAstrophysicist

Natioal Space ScienceData Center

Sheila JohnsonCommunity Relations

CoordinatorAmes Research Center

Nurturing NASA’s diverse population of work-ers is a key element at Goddard and Sharon Wongis one of the people who oversee that mission. Sheis the assistant to the Director of Diversity at thecenter. The philosophy behind the center’s diversitygoals has been to move away from the traditionalconcept of affirmative action. “We look at it morefrom a perspective of inclusion,” explained Wong.“We want to broaden our spectrum to include allages, ethnicity, race and sexual orientation. We arelooking for people who work hard and want to be apart of our team.”

Wong and her department are championingactivities that institutionalize workplace diversity.“It takes many forms,” explained Wong. “We haveover 3,200 people working at the center but usual-ly, when people are looking to solve a particularproblem they look to the same people they havealways sought out. Why not look for new people?You still need the people you’ve worked with beforebut many times you can get a more innovative solu-tion if you look outside your usual network of con-tacts.” Wong adds that there is a strong case to bemade for diverse solution from a business point ofview. By looking for solutions from a greater rangeof possibilities, there is a better chance of solvingthe problem in a cost-effective way.

DIVERSE LEADERSHIP

At NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., anAfrican-American is also looking to help the agencyfind innovative solutions by utilizing small, minori-ty-owned businesses. From a field of 84 applicants,Ralph Thomas emerged as the assistant administra-tor in charge of business utilization. Under hiswatch, NASA has tripled the number of awards tominority-owned businesses and with tremendousbenefits to the agency. “It’s easy for the Lockheedsand Boeings of the world because they have theresources to get in front of the smaller businesses,”said Thomas. But the administrator, who has beencited by President Clinton and more recently Bushfor his efforts, knows that the main reason for seek-ing out these contracts is to improve the space pro-gram. “We once had the Atlantis orbiter in the ver-tical position at KSC when we had some mechani-cal problems that needed to be fixed,” recallsThomas. “Normally in that situation we would haveto drain fluids out of the system in order to effectrepairs in the horizontal but there was a minority-owned small business that came up with a differentsolution. They found a way to ‘freeze’ the fluidsinstead of drain them. We wound up launching on

time and saved the program millions of dollars.”Thomas can point to many other examples

where his advocacies of small, minority-operatedfirms have come up with solutions to difficult prob-lems. The Pathfinder mission to Mars had a batterylife expectancy of one month—the batteries designedby one of Thomas’ contractors lasted three. “There’salso the example of the Lunar Prospector website,”explained Thomas. “It received numerous awardsand many called it the best mission related websiteever designed. It received 15 million hits in threedays! It was designed by a small minority- ownedcompany.” The Harvard Law School grad is proudof his accomplishments at NASA and looks to abright future. “I never anticipated working here butI was working with the Congressional Black Caucuson the issue of using minority businesses for gov-ernment contracts. I love my job here and hope tostay because we’ve made a lot of history here. Weare the best government agency when it comes toutilizing minority businesses,” said Thomas.

Of course, when most people think of NASA,images of the two glamour centers usually pop intoconsciousness. Kennedy Space Center, America’sspaceport; and Johnson Space Center in Houston,home to the Manned Spacecraft Center, were tra-ditional bastions of a nearly uniformly white maleculture during the glory days of the 1960s and’70s. “And that too is part of our diversity now,”says Steve Gonzales, a Manager Branch Chief inAdvanced Technologies in Houston. “It is impor-tant to understand the richness we have in diversi-ty—not just of race but age as well.” Gonzales is apassionate leader of Puerto Rican descent who

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“We want to broaden our spectrum to include

all ages, ethnicity, race and sexual orientation.

We are looking for people who work hard

and want to be a part of our team.”

Sharon Wong, Assistant to the Director of Diversity

Goddard Spaceflight Center

grew up in the New York–New Jersey area. “Iremember asking Santa for a Saturn V rocket forChristmas in the second grade,” Gonzales remi-nisced. “By the eight grade I knew I wanted towork at NASA.” So did a lot of school-aged kids.But Gonzales had the right stuff to stick to hisdream and found a job at Houston during one ofNASA’s toughest times, the post-Challenger periodof 1988. Gonzales is working on technologies thatwill make the shuttle and future spacecraft moreintuitive, intelligent and interactive in their com-mand and control. In short, Gonzales’ goal is tomake the flight decks look more like those seen inStar Trek and kids video games than the tradition-al panels of switches and readouts.

In these days of funding cutbacks and uncertainpolicy goals, Gonzales has had to also work hard atkeeping his passion alive. “I mix my own religiousbeliefs and inner drive to keep my hopefulness,”said Gonzales. “My goal is to lay the foundation sothat we can return back to the dream of spaceexploration. Of breaking boundaries—from pitch-ing a tent to hauling in the wagons—a more per-manent place up there.”

Growing up in Florida, Ken Newton rememberswatching launches from the Space Coast about anhour away from his home. “I remember thinkingthat it would be amazing to work in that firingroom,” recalls Newton. “But I didn’t really seemany people who looked like me.” Growing up anAfrican-American in a southern state, Newtondrove himself to pursue a career in engineering. “Iremember my first Calculus book and looking inthe back of the book at the answers thinking,‘There’s no way I can do this.’” But Newton took itone page at a time and found himself working as anintern at a power plant as part of his University ofFlorida at Gainesville education. A couple of weeksafter graduation, Newton found himself a job

through a NASA job fair. Now he is part of theteam that he couldn’t picture himself being part ofduring his youth.

“At first I was so wowed by the whole experi-ence, all the cool acronyms and then I was struck bythe relative primitiveness of the computer technol-ogy,” said Newton. Indeed, his college courses hadmore ubiquitous computer technology than whatNewton found at KSC in 1989. “Just a few yearsbefore they were still using punch card technologyand there were maybe three computers to everyforty people working here. Now of course, everyonehas a PC on their desk.” As an independent assess-ment engineer, Newton plays a critical role in theassessment of third parties like contractors to becertain that launch operations go off smoothly. Ofcourse, there are always problems that crop up dur-ing the critical days and hours leading up until alaunch and with the International Space Stationconstruction, launch operations is a busy place towork. But even after many a launch, Newton main-tains his sense of excited wonder. “I remember myfirst launch,” recalled the engineer. “I was standingnext to the VAB and the massive structure wasshuddering with the concussions of sound. Ithought the whole thing was going to rattle down.It was pretty exciting and still is!”

Newton would like to see NASA continue itstrend toward a more diverse work force. “I did twomonths in the education office here and it was greatto reach out to educators and young people to givethem the vision that they could look into the futureand be a part of it,” said Newton. “There are stillsome barriers to overcome. Launch directors andtest directors are still predominately white malesbut I hope someday that someone like me can bemaybe even the Director of KSC.” Newton knowsthat if we are to ever go to Mars and utilize space toits fullest potential, diversity is the key. “What willit really take to get to Mars and live there? You needthe advantage of a diverse group of people attackinga problem like that.”

For every person profiled in this piece there are lit-erally hundreds of other equally diverse and com-pelling stories. Diversity in the workplace at NASAisn’t about filling a quota system or providing advan-tages to the undeserving. It’s about recognizing geniusand talent and drive and turning those human quali-ties to work on humanity’s great adventure. When wedo return to the Moon or travel to Mars, it just mightbe a guy like Ken Newton that gives the final “go” anda ship with controls designed by people like SteveGonzales that gets us there.a

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“Launch directors and test directors are still

predominately white males but I hope someday

that someone like me can be maybe even

the Director of KSC.”

Ken Newton, Independent Assessment Engineer

Kennedy Space Center