Brian Notosubagyo has a lot to be thankful for – most notably his parents and the sacrifices they made to start him on his journey to NASA. The first-generation American, whose parents emigrated from Indonesia, is living proof of the power of dreams made real.
“Almost all of my family is back in Indonesia, and my parents were the first out of their respective families to establish a life out here in America. They worked really hard so that I could follow my dreams,” he said. “They knew I loved space when I was a little kid playing with Lego sets and now they are incredibly happy to see me work on actual spacecraft for NASA.”
Notosubagyo is among the many agency interns who celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this May with a sense of pride and purpose.
“I believe my Asian American identity has pushed me thus far to getting to where I am now with interning with NASA as well as always providing me with the strength and drive to push even further than what I could possibly imagine,” Notosubagyo said.
Each May, NASA commemorates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month to recognize the significant contributions of past and present employees of AAPI descent. Each of them embodies the enduring and resilient spirit this community brings to advancing science, research, and discovery.
“There is certainly a feeling of responsibility to carry on and add more to what those before me had started,” said NASA intern Ahsan Khan. “It is up to me as someone from a new generation to pick up where they left off and contribute to making even greater scientific progress.”
Khan, a mechanical engineering graduate student at the State University of New York at Buffalo, said NASA’s mix of genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds give the agency and its missions plenty of untapped energy to advance scientific knowledge and progress for humanity.
“Diversity of individuals at NASA is healthy for driving creativity and innovations,” he said.
Notosubagyo, an astronautical engineering graduate student at the University of Southern California, remarked that Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a chance to celebrate the diverse stories and honor the people who have and continue to blaze trails for others to follow.
“What is amazing about Asian American and Pacific Islander culture is that even though there are many differences between all the cultures, whether it be Indonesian or Vietnamese, we are still able to draw a common thread between them,” he said. “We celebrate the commonality between all of us and that will keep us moving forward and pushing all kinds of boundaries.”
NASA intern Chris
topher Um, a California high school senior, said Hidden Figures Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan and astronaut Dr. Jonny Kim were inspirations for him to consider joining the agency. Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, in particular, allows Um to honor his family, especially his mother, who have pushed him to where he is now.
“It is really a strong reminder of the journey of how I came here to be, and I believe the culture I grew up in, especially due to my Asian heritage, provided me with more intellectual curiosity to pursue my dream,” he said.
For Khan, being a Bangladeshi-American means he carries his heritage as a badge of honor to represent his people to the best of his abilities to leave a positive legacy of South Asian Americans.
“To me, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month means remembering my Bangladeshi roots and being grateful of how far I have come because of my big strides in life that were influenced by the values and worldview that my culture has instilled in me,” he said.
