Welcome. Welcome to another virtual episode of NASA
Science Live. In honor of National Hispanic Heritage
Month, we want to reinforce our commitment to equal
opportunity, diversity and inclusion.
My name is Raquel Villanueva. My last name originates
from a town's name in Spain. It was brought to La Paz Bolivia
where part of my family still resides. At NASA,
wesee diversity as a strength. We're bringing you an
episode all about our Hispanic American employees
and the valuable ideas and perspectives they
bring to the agency. Like many of our employees,
today's episode is bilingual. So be sure to toggle
between English captions or Español. Today
we celebrate many of the amazing NASA employees with Hispanic
heritage and the diverse and varied roles
everyone fills.
Hello, hello, hello. Hello, everyone.
Hi, my name is Dr. Bea Gallardo-Lacourt Hi, my name is Carmen Pulido
and I’m originally from Tijuana, Mexico. Hello, my name is Andrés Andrade.
Hi my name is Bettina Inclan NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Office of Communications. Hi, I'm Frank
Rubio from Miami, Florida.
My name is Ali Guarneros-Luna Hi, how are you?
My name is Ashley Curiel and I’m from Guadalajara, Mexico.
Mexico. Originally from Mexico City, but I Live now in Queens,
New York. I am a proud American. First
generation of Cuban and
Mexican parents. I was born in Mexico, but I'm currently
residing in Los Angeles, California. Hi! My name is Jessica Rola and I am a proud, bilingual Mexican.
I’m an aerospace engineer here at NASA Ames.
I am a systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena. My job is to study the solar system
As a Thermal Engineer doing thermal analysis and design especially
with cryogenic systems. I'm Clinical Psychologist
at the Johnson Space Center medical clinic, 32 and I work with all our former astronauts. I'm a Public Affairs
Officer at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Southern California.
I am a Business Manager. At JPL, I'm a
Mechanical Engineer and I support electromagnetic compatibility
testing on spacecraft and instruments. I work for NASA's
office of STEM engagement at The Goddard Institute for Space
Studies. So, I work closely with students and with teachers
I develop technology for the missions to the Moon and Mars
and I am currently working with the Mars navigation team,
The Mars 2020 team that is in charge of
figuring out where the spacecraft is in space at all times
and to tell it how to get to Mars. And I have been working at Goddard
for one year in magnetosphere ionospheric cappings specifically
the Aurora. And I became a NASA astronaut after a 20-year
career in the US Army, eight years flying blackhawk helicopters,
and twelve years as a Family Medicine Physician. My NASA journey
began soon after I had just started my classes towards my Masters
in Education. I remember I got the opportunity to interview at JPL
after many months
of not giving up and now
I'm a lead engineer and representing NASA. And while I was still
completing my Master's, I came back for a second internship
which eventually led to a full-time position. Working here I
realized that NASA also hires lawyers, custodians
and even social media managers, so it's not
all just pilots and engineers around here. Very proud of my culture
and my Heritage. I'm very proud to be part of the NASA family.
Thank you for taking the time to celebrate our rich culture. Thank you. See you soon.
I love seeing the wide range of roles Hispanic Americans
have at NASA. Be sure to stay tuned at the end of
our show to find out how you can ask questions one-on-one
with our NASA experts. We're now joined by Sabrina
Delgado Arias, an Applications Coordinator
at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Welcome,
Thank you very much.
So Sabrina, I hear that you are researching some exciting topics.
Can you share more about your work?
Yes, well my work in a nutshell is to be
able to understand how people use ICESAT-2
data. This is the mission that I work primarily
with. It was launched in 2018
and it provides us with the 3D profile of our
Earth using height measurements. We have a
number of people that have expressed interest in the
ICESAT-2 data. ICESAT-2 provides us with
measurements of sea ice, of vegetation height,
of Inland water data, and so
I try to create awareness of what
this data products are, or this data is and
understand how people can inform practical
applications. So, for example, we have a
researcher in Brazil who is looking at
how to use the Inland water data product to look
at surface water from space over the Amazon basin.
There are a lot of floods and droughts
that have impacted the local population. And so
this information is very much needed and
we have other people that are looking at for example, the vegetation
data products from ICESAT-2 here in the United States
to look at changes in sage-grouse
ecosystems or looking at changes
in in dry-land ecosystems to inform
changes to bird habitats. So
these are just a couple of examples
that is basically what I do. That
is fascinating work. Can you tell us a little bit about
the path that led you to your career at NASA? Yeah,
well, I never expect it to work at NASA. First of all,
I always thought about astronauts and outer space, but never really
the Earth. We came here with my family
in the late 1980s. My dad was a
Telecommunications Engineer and he was part
of the development team
for what would have been the first space
foreign telecommunication satellite in Colombia.
And so, he really inspired in me that curiosity for Science
and Technology. I think the same for my mom.
She has always been very actively involved
in our community through her volunteer work. And so she
really has made me appreciate that love for serving
others. I am very much a people person and
I love to connect people and
connect with people and this is a big part of what
I do at Goddard. I studied
agriculture and natural resources economics and
Science and Technology policy. So I
guess you could say it's an unexpected way to get to
NASA. Like you just said it was an unexpected
way, but for people following a similar career
path, what would you like them to know?
That there are a diverse number
of professions that you can find at Goddard. I
think this is one of the things that most impacted me when I started working
there. You have Astrophysicists. You have
Astronauts. You have all the way to educational
and outreach experts. So, I would say
there's an opportunity for all and I would
encourage everyone to just love yourself
and have this reflect in what you do
so that this energy opens up the doors for you. It's
a great answer. Thank you, Sabrina. Thank you very much.
With hard work and dedication anything is possible
and for Diana Trujillol, an aerospace engineer
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, these words
are a true testament to her story. Diana
moved from Colombia to the U.S. overcoming adversity
and is now working on her second spacecraft
sent to Mars. Let's take a look.
It never occurred to me in my life that I could move from cleaning houses to arriving
to this situation working with Mars 2020.
My name is Diana Trujillo
and I work with robotic arms to collect materials
on the surface of the planet Mars in order to understand and answer the question,
"Was there ever life on the surface of Mars?" That is one of the most
fundamental questions that human beings have had for many years. We are in the
laboratory where we do all of the tests on the robotic arm.
The robotic arms for these missions are very important because we do not have a
geologist who can walk on the surface. So, what
we have to do is carry several instruments that we can lift up
from the surface and that’s when we need a robotic arm that can
put the instruments down on the surface. We are standing in an area where
we simulate the surface of Mars and the intention is to show that we can
drive in different conditions with the robot. When I start to think about how
It was that I got to where I am, it’se something that I can’t believe. When I was in
Colombia unfortunately there was a lot of violence and looking at the stars was something
that could help calm me down. I came here to the United States
when I was 17, I learned English when I got here. I come to work as one
Hispanic woman representing many people who haven’t thought they can
be part of this, but they can be at some point. Then I feel
extremely happy to know that I have the opportunity to be part of a group that
can change history.
It takes a huge team of diverse individuals with an array
of talents and skills to get many of our NASA missions
off the ground. From mission start to finish, our Hispanic
American employees have been trailblazers in the many
roles they fill to explore the Earth and beyond. Today,
we are joined by Lucas Paganini, a program scientist
at NASA Headquarters. Glad you could join us today.
Hello Lucas. Hello, thank you very much for the invitation. You’re welcome.
So can you tell us a little
bit about what you do as a program scientist.
Sure, unlike a traditional scientist
who specializes in a given scientific
field, a program scientist at NASA Headquarters
oversee the broad science content and execution
of space mission and research programs. I
work in the Planetary Science Division, which
deals with the study of the solar system,
except our planet and the Sun.
And can you tell us who your most memorable project
that you've worked on?
Well, when I used to be a traditional scientist,
my group discovered water vapor on
one of Jupiter's moon called
Europa. Europa is a moon slightly
smaller than our own Moon and we believe
it might have a liquid water ocean under
its surface with twice as much water as
all of Earth's oceans combined. Now,
this has huge implications for our search
for life beyond Earth and
this is why NASA is working on a space mission
called Europa Clipper that will go to Europa
in 10 years and will gather details of the
moon with unprecedented details at this
distances never been achieved before.
That's amazing. Let's take it back to
your childhood. And can you tell me your earliest
memory that made you want to pursue a profession in space
exploration?
Yes, of course since I was a child,
I always wanted to be an astronaut and a pilot,
you know, like so many kids I
grew up seeing astronauts during the space
shuttle era, building the International Space
Station and servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope,
but when I had to choose a career, space
exploration was not available in my city. So,
you know, it was only later on that
the study of space found me. And
this is actually a subject I want to get your take on Lucas, according
to the National Science Foundation, Hispanic Americans accounted
for six percent of the workforce in science and engineering.
Can you explain the importance of having representation
in this field and what we can do in order to have
better representation in STEM?
Yeah, this is very important. Science
and engineering is the future and
for any community to thrive they must be part of this
wave. I think it's our duty as role
models to motivate kids and young scientists
to consider these careers. You
know, our community is the largest minority
group in the United States accounting for 20%
of the total population. So
definitely 6% is rather low,
but you know, unfortunately only 20% of our
community has college degrees. So, there
is a long way to go but
on the bright side the amount of Latin or
Hispanic people with college degrees has tripled
over the past 15 years. So, this is
the highest increase for all groups, which
is really encouraging, you know,
I think the message is: Education is essential
and it's what gave me the opportunity to come
to NASA. Now, at NASA we are
committed to a culture of diversity, inclusion
and equality and we hope to see more
young people from all backgrounds join
us in the near future. So, you know keep
studying, work hard. Everything is
possible.
Yes, we can. Thank you so much for joining us today, Lucas. It was a pleasure, thank you very much for the invitation.
After a
mission is in its working stages. Can you guess what comes
next? That's right the stage where logic and creativity
meet to build spacecraft instruments and the complex
advanced technologies needed to conduct NASA missions
like the Perseverance rover, which is currently on its way to
Mars. This rover is the first step to a
round-trip mission that will
collect and cache Martian samples for a future
mission, which will retrieve those samples and bring them
back to Earth. Today, we’re joined by Dr. Yajaira Sierra-Sastre,
a project manager at NASA's
Glenn Research Center. Welcome, Yajaira.
Thank you very much. Thank you. And how did growing
up in Puerto Rico foster your passion for space?
Yes, I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. I come from a very small town called Arroyo.
and I have really great memories
about the nights spent staring at the black sky
and the stars, you know in the middle of the night.
I also have really good memories growing up and
doing science fair projects, investigating the trims that I could
see in the mouth of the river that crossed town. So
Arroyo was my playground. It was that place that instilled in
me that passion for science. Beautiful mountains
and a
beautiful ocean that really sparked in me that curiosity
to explore the universe.
So, you said your path to NASA took a
few different turns. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
That's correct. So, prior to my job at NASA
I had to reinvent myself many times
over the course of my career. I am a material scientist by training
but before becoming a scientist, I was a high school teacher
and I taught for one year Chemistry at my former
high school. After that, I continued doing
research internships because I wanted to
become a scientist and finally finished my
PhD in Material Science, but after that after
graduation, I work as a scientist for different
startup companies also worked for the Federal
Government in a different agency in a completely different
technology area the for security feature
applications. And now I am at NASA finally
at NASA fulfilling my dream, space
dream because space has been always a passion. Now
you are leading
an effort of building one of the Mars spring tires
that will one day be used for NASA's first ever Mars
Sample Return in 2026. Can you tell us more
about the tires? Yes. So, I am the project
manager for the Mars spring tire team. This is a team
responsible for the design, build and testing of
the shape memory alloy tires that will be
in the future rover that we'll be sending
to Mars. These tires are made of shapeshifting
materials. Materials that can
conform to rocky terrains and materials and tires
that will be very durable and that will
be able to just traverse those
long distances to pick up the samples that the
Perseverance rover will be collecting on the surface of Mars.
Yajaira what advice do you have for other Hispanic Americans
who want to pursue a career path like yours?
I would like to advise other Hispanics to really consider
a career in science. My career has been filled of many wonderful
adventures from being a research scientist to joining
a simulated Mars mission to now working at
NASA in technologies that we will be sending to Mars.
So, Science and Technology are filled
with many many many awesome opportunities. I
also like to tell other Hispanics like me
to reach out to scientists and engineers. Ask questions
about career paths because they can learn a lot about
which career path they feel passionate
about and most importantly I would like to tell
Hispanics to leverage their biculturalism. We are
people that are experienced at
engaging with different types of people, diverse people
from diverse cultures and backgrounds so leverage
that in your workplaces, in your future career,
to get innovative to to make
our work
places better places. Fantastic advice, Yajaira. Thank you for your time.
Thank you very much. Now, there are so many people dedicated
to working on new technologies that will help explore beyond
Earth's horizon. Let's meet Dionne Hernandez-Lugo
a project manager for Kilopower at NASA's
Glenn Research Center who is working to create power
systems for future astronauts to live and
work on the Moon or Mars.
If we are going to go to the Moon or Mars we are going to need nuclear energy. My name is Dr. Dionne Hernández Lugo
and I manage a group of engineers developing electrical systems for future space exploration.
Kilopower is a nuclear system. The system consists of using uranium.
Uranium is heated and this heat is then transferred to electricity in order to not only power
instruments but also give astronauts the ability to survive.
Growing up in Puerto Rico, I always asked a lot of questions and asked my mom a lot of things. She bought me a
microscope and with this microscope I could collect different samples
and be able to analyze them. This is actually what made me more interested in science.
Now here at NASA we can explore and continue to explore space.
The excitement behind NASA's missions wouldn't be possible without
viewers like you. Engaging, educating
and reaching out to the public is an important part of NASA's
mission. Besides, what's the point of doing awesome
science in space if you have no one to share it with?
Let's welcome other Adriana Manrique, a multimedia
specialist and animator at the Conceptual Image
Lab at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Thank you for being with us.
Thank you, Raquel. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Adriana, you came to the United States to pursue your passion.
Can you tell us some more about your journey? Sure. I
came to the U.S. when I was 19 years old. I
used to live in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico and initially
I came up here to study illustration and animation
at the Savannah College of Art and Design. And
can you tell us more about how you got into your role at Goddard’s Image
Lab? Sure, during my last
year of my master's
the mission ICESAT-2 came down
to the college and actually requested a group of students
to create a series of multimedia
products and those were animations, illustrations,
posters and they're still being used today. It's
amazing. Now. What is your role at Goddard’s
Image Lab today?
Right now, I am a Multimedia Specialist
animator and I create 2D and 3D animations
for several missions. Most of
them that go through Goddard. As well,
I also create illustrations, other
graphic design products. And
can you tell me what is one of your favorite projects that you've worked
on? Sure, my favorite project
was with ICESAT-2 and it was the 88
Traverse video. Now what the
88 Traverse is, is a trip
that two scientists from the mission
do every year down to the 88 South Line
in Antarctica. And what they do is they
Set up reflectors that will help calibrate the
satellite in space. When talking to the scientist
one of them mentioned that it's been,
it's the first time that people have walked that exact
traverse. So, the producer and I were like,
this is amazing. It's like we need
to put that sense of adventure, like the old
explorers’ type of thing and we just thought it was
amazing because it's like boots on the ground doing this amazing stuff
and it's actually to help a satellite up in space. Now
what many people think of when you work at NASA is to be a scientist
or engineer, but you are doing very cool work as an animator.
What made you want to pursue a career in animation at
NASA?
Sure. The reason that I just love
being here is because every single project
it's a new challenge is something that I never thought
I would have to learn about like heliophysics,
lasers, astrophysics and all these kind
of things that are just super specialized and just
the people that I work with they’re amazing.
So, every day, it's just a great great day.
Thank you for being with us today Adriana. Thank you very much for having me.
As you can see there are
many fields that can lead to a career at NASA and
you don't have to be a scientist or engineer to join the team. From
lawyers and legislative roles to communication, social
media and video, there's a place at NASA for a diverse
range of careers and all are essential to
the agency's mission and goals. I am joined
Now by NASA Disasters Program Coordinator
Ricardo Quiroga. Ricardo's research focuses
on disaster risk
reduction and the application of Earth's observation
to develop products and services for decision makers
throughout the disaster cycle. Ricardo, Thank
you for joining us today.
Thank you for having me here. This is an honor for me. And
let's talk about how growing up in Colombia influenced
the work you do today. Yes, I was born
in Colombia in the coffee region with one of the
most variety birds in the world.
Also, I’ve touredall the ecosystems
and regions in Colombia. Also visited in Amazon
jungle where I work with indigenous communities trying
to help to protect the ecosystems and those
communities including the non-contacted
communities. That's why I understood
the needs of observations to understand
the planet and deal with this kind
of challenge and disasters. And
can you tell us more about your role at NASA and
for you personally, why it is important?
Yes, my roll at NASA is to be a bridge between the data,
NASA expertise and models with
the communities, the countries, the government and disaster
agencies. Be the bridge between NASA
science and technology and decision-makers in the
region. To support them, understanding the
risk, understanding the damage and also providing
near-real-time products to make this important decision
in all the whole cycle of the disasters.
And what natural disasters has your work helped
in regards to recovery? Yeah,
our program works with a different variety
of disasters. For example, landslides, hurricanes
floods, fires, providing near
real-time data to end users. But
nowadays, we are working with Guatemala City
and multi-risk assessment in Guatemala City is important
because their lives 1.8
million people.
Most of them poor communities and this
is a combined effort with
government of Guatemala, Guatemala City Government,
United Nation disaster risk reduction and other Regional
agencies in disasters. This is an
incredible project because we are using high resolution
data NASA data and NASA models to
modeling the risk in that City and
that city has high seismic risk
that could affect many
people. And how do you connect to the communities
and the people that you work with that you mentioned?
Yeah working the Americas is important to
know the cultural elements, it’s important
to speak the language, the original languages. Also
trying to connect the people as friends because we are creating
a community in disasters topics. That's
why is very important that NASA
to lead and achieve credibility, to
join all those points, those stakeholders
to create a collaborative efforts
to support decision-making and also
to deal with disasters in
the in one of the most exposed regions in the world
to disasters. The work you
do is very important. And for those
watching what's one piece of advice
you could share with others who are just starting in their careers
and maybe want to take a similar career path to yours?
Well, I came here because I have my heart very
connected with the nature, with the communities and
at one point of my life and I understood that it is
absolutely needed to involve science
and technology to deal with the big challenges
that humanity has in the future. For example, overpopulation,
limited resources and also great
disasters coming. I think the Science and Technology
combined with passion for them
is a key element to be part of this
effort to save lives and goods in the communities
of the Americas. Fantastic advice.
Thank you, Ricardo, for sharing that and joining us today.
Thank you for having me here is an honor to be part of
the NASA Disaster Program. Thank you. Thank
you and thank you for joining us at home. There's
another opportunity coming up this afternoon for
you to ask questions to some of NASA's Hispanic-American
employees.
Join a Reddit AMA at 4
p.m. Eastern time. visit the NASA en Espanol
accounts for information and a direct link
and while you're there make sure to follow NASA español
on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank
you so much for joining us today on NASA Science Live.
Until next time