All Articles Tagged "NASA"
MN Daily Salute: Mae Jemison
Source: WENN
Mae Jemison
CALLING: Physician and astronaut
WHY WE’RE SALUTING HER:
Mae Jemison is a physician and NASA astronaut who became the first black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.
Jemison, who was born in Decatur, GA, grew up in Chicago, and even as a young girl knew that she would eventually travel into space. Her inquisitive mind quickly became fascinated with science and nature, although interestingly, she proved to be both left- and right-brained, taking up all forms of dance from African, ballet, and jazz, to modern and even Japanese at age 11. After honing her skills for several years, Jemison was faced with the difficult decision of choosing to go to medical school in New York or become a professional dancer. That’s when her mother told her, ”You can always dance if you’re a doctor, but you can’t be a doctor if you’re a dancer.”
Jemison listened to her mother and enrolled at Stanford University at just 16 years old. In 1977, she received a B.S. in chemical engineering and a B.A. in African and Afro-American Studies. In 1981, she obtained her medical degree from Cornell Medical College and interned at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center before working as a general practitioner. During medical school, Jemison traveled to Cuba, Kenya, and Thailand to provide primary medical care to people living there, which led to her joining the Peace Corps and serving as a Peace Corps Medical Officer from 1983 to 1985, having responsibility for the health of Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Liberia and Sierra Leone. While at Cornell, Jemison also took lessons in modern dance at the Alvin Ailey school and later built a dance studio in her home and choreographed and produced several shows of modern jazz and African dance.
While in the Peace Corps, Jemison was selected by NASA to join the astronaut corps in 1987 and on September 12, 1992, she flew her first and only space mission as a Mission Specialist on STS-47. Just a year later she resigned from NASA to form her own company, the Jemison Group, which researches the application of technology to daily life.
Since NASA, Jemison has had an illustrious career that includes several television appearances, awards, and honors, including nine honorary doctorates in science, engineering, letters, and the humanities. From 1995 to 2002, Jemison was a professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College and is currently a Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She even participated n a forum for promising girls in the Washington, DC, public schools with Michelle Obama just a few years ago. For being an extraordinary example of excellence for African American women in the STEM fields, we salute Mae Jemison.
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College At 16, NASA Career, & Reality TV: Moogega Cooper Is A Nerd And Proud of It
Jeremy Freeman via TBS
You know we love to bring you “first’s” in this “Behind the Click” profile series. We’ve had our first Canadian, first veteran and now… our first TV celebrity. Hands up if you’ve caught TBS’s King of the Nerds! Either way, we’ve got the interview with the only African-American woman on this reality competition, which is gaining speed.
Moogega Cooper just may change your idea of how a “nerd” should look and think. While she may have gone to college at 16 and then worked at NASA as a Planetary Projection Engineer, there is much more than meets the tech eye. We’ve got the inside scoop. Read on to see how this dynamic woman is breaking boundaries and making moves representin’ for the browner, female side of the technorati.
Current Occupation: Planetary Projection Engineer
Favorite Website: xkcd.com “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.”
Favorite Read: It’s not really a book for reading, but I carry around the Diabolical KenKen book everywhere I go!
Recent Read: Eat and Run, Scott Jurek
2013′s Ultimate Goal: My ultimate goal for this year is to have a funded proposal where I am the PI (principal investigator)!
Madame Noire: So, you are from Pasadena! What was it like growing up there? Where did you attend college/grad school?
Moogega Cooper: You know, I say Pasadena is my hometown but I actually grew up in Beverly, New Jersey until I was 11 when we moved to Hampton, VA. I was pretty sheltered growing up so I spent most of my time playing with my siblings or by myself. I attended college at Hampton University where I majored in Physics and minored in Space, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences. The program was beyond amazing and that is where I learned my first programming language and worked with real NASA satellite data at 16 years of age. I have so many people to thank at Hampton who significantly contributed to where I am today (Including my main mentor, Dr. James Russell III).
MN: Hurray for Hampton and mentors! But then you even went on to get a PhD. What did you receive your Master’s and PhD in exactly? How did you have such clarity to achieve that by 24?
MC: I received my Master’s and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Thermal Fluid Sciences. I was certain while performing the last two years of my co-op experience at NASA Langley, I was going to study Plasma (the fourth state of matter, not the component in your blood, although Langmuir was inspired by blood plasma when he coined the name to describe this electrical discharge).
MN: Understood. When did you first begin to become interested in technology?
MC: I was always interested in technology, since I was a little girl and was my father’s main assistant when he would remodel parts of the house or performed electrical work. I then became interested in astrophysics after watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos in middle school. We’d rent another cassette each time we visited the public library. From then on, I knew I had to focus on math and science in order to achieve this goal. This is what I keep in mind when speaking to the next generation of explorers. When you have a prize you can affix your eye on, it helps when you feel tired or discouraged. Keep that eye on the prize!
MN: Very true. So from there, how did you obtain your position at NASA?
MC: I went through what is referred to as the “NASA Pipeline” where I participated in educational programs as an undergraduate (Co-Op program) through graduate school (NASA Harriet G. Jenkins Pre-Doctoral Fellowship) which allowed me to spend time at JPL where I was able to demonstrate my capabilities. This resulted in an offer as a Post-Doc upon completion of my Ph.D. After contributing more of my efforts and knowledge, I was hired as a full-time employee in 2011!
Taking Flight: 7 Black Female Astronauts and Aviators Who Changed History
As elite members of human space programs, or one of the select few pilots working for the military, black women have been soaring above fruited plains and far-flung planets for the cause of space exploration and freedom since 1922. In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, they have battled gender and racial biases to demonstrate – once again – the unstoppable power of a determined sister.
Image: Smithsonian Air & Space Museum
An avid student, Mae Jemison earned dual degrees in chemical engineering and African-American studies at Stanford University, while becoming fluent in Japanese, Russian and Swahili. She received a doctor of medicine degree from Cornell University and then served in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Upon her return to the United States, Jemison applied to the astronaut program at NASA.
Her original application was rejected, but the second time around, she was one of 15 candidates selected from a field of 2,000. When Jemison concluded her training in 1988, she was the fifth black astronaut, and the first black female astronaut in the history of NASA. She completed her first flight in 1992. It was an eight-day mission, and she logged 190 hours, 30 minutes and 23 seconds on the space shuttle Endeavor as a mission specialist – making her the first black woman to go into space.
Chicago-Area Astronauts Reflect on Space Program’s End
(Chicago Tribune) — If America had not taken on the multibillion-dollar space shuttle program, sending orbiters into space 134 times over 30 years, the world would be without the Hubble Space Telescope’s jaw-dropping photographs of the ancient universe and it is doubtful there would be an International Space Station. That is the consensus of three astronauts from the Chicago area who worked and lived aboard the shuttle orbiters. All three say they are sorry to see the program retire when Atlantis returns from the 135th and final shuttle launch later this month. ”It is an amazing machine, probably the most complex space vehicle we will ever build,” said John Grunsfeld, 52, who was born in Chicago’s Hyde Parkneighborhood and went to Highland Park High School.
Mary J. Blige, NASA Pair Up to Get Girls Into Science
(Black Enterprise) — Mary J. Blige is partnering with NASA to encourage girls and young women to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). NASA released two public service announcements featuring Blige and space shuttle astronaut Leland Melvin this week on NASA TV online. In addition, Blige, who cofounded the Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now in 2008, has made several television appearances in the last week to talk about the program.
NASA to Help Investigate Toyota Problems
(CBSNews.com) — NASA and the National Academy of Sciences are joining the government’s effort to figure out what caused the sudden acceleration problems that led to Toyota’s massive recalls.
NASA scientists with expertise in electronics will help the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study potential electronic ties to unintended acceleration in Toyotas. NASA’s knowledge of electronics, computer hardware and software and hazard analysis will ensure a comprehensive review, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Monday.
In a separate study, the National Academy of Sciences will examine unwanted acceleration and electronic vehicle controls in cars from around the auto industry, LaHood said. The National Academy is an independent organization chartered by Congress.
NASA to Help Investigate Toyota Problems
(CBSNews.com) — NASA and the National Academy of Sciences are joining the government’s effort to figure out what caused the sudden acceleration problems that led to Toyota’s massive recalls.
NASA scientists with expertise in electronics will help the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study potential electronic ties to unintended acceleration in Toyotas. NASA’s knowledge of electronics, computer hardware and software and hazard analysis will ensure a comprehensive review, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Monday.
In a separate study, the National Academy of Sciences will examine unwanted acceleration and electronic vehicle controls in cars from around the auto industry, LaHood said. The National Academy is an independent organization chartered by Congress.
Obama to Push NASA Plans
The W.H. launches a political counterattack to fend off criticism of its proposals to outsource U.S. space missions to private industry.
