Faces of NASAThe Faces of NASA series combines stunning portraiture with interviews of NASA's workforce. "My very first project was literally on a bar napkin. And I was given three dimensions: the top, the bottom..."My goal right now is to find a need and fill it. That’s my thing. And that’s all through life....“I was born in India soon after we got independence from the British. My mother was very keen that her..."Now my whole family likes to brag that they have a rocket scientist daughter who works at NASA.” — Casey..."If you tell an artist what to paint, they will paint it. But, if you tell them what you’re looking..."I am really made to feel like I am part of a family. I don’t feel like anybody is treated..."When someone asks me about my job? I respond with immense pride I am part of the Office of the..."I want to see more women in the workforce. I want to see more women in technical fields. I want..."This 4’11” Black woman achieved this, not knowing that STEM was going to be my path or that I was..."We’re just going to keep lifting each other up and making sure that we all have each other’s backs, because..."It takes twenty thousand people to run NASA — and we’re not all astronauts and scientists and engineers. I try..."In my life I’ve learned that things don’t always go your way. But roadblocks can be opportunities. You can either..."I’ve been working with heat treating ever since I started working with shape memory alloys. We actually have our own..."And here we are twenty years later, and now we have a whole generation of kids that have never known..."Success is in the journey of trying to work your way back to balanced.” — Magdiel Santana, Senior Program Analyst,..."It is important that we have cultural awareness. And to actually do the science, to solve scientific mysteries, we need..."Yes, it has been a challenge, to get to work for NASA. But it’s worth it, every single day.” —..."When I walked into those doors [at my new job], understanding my ancestry, and then also understanding, I, myself, who...“I think it’s also that I came at a good time when we are having these important discussions about diversity..."I’ve worked in many different roles and what drives my passion is learning things that I don’t know. It is..."I just never knew that I would have the opportunity to have these kinds of mentors to actually help me...“I had a mentor say something to me that I think rings really true. He said, ‘when you work in..."My work will be on that rocket when it flies and this will bring my childhood dream to fruition.” —..."I try to be that glue or conduit, ensuring not only that the research portfolio is healthy, but the team..."What has changed? What hasn’t changed? Are we progressing? I think that we are in some ways, but in other..."Though I’m a Flight Director and the leader of that team, especially in Houston, I’m not significant unless there is...I try to keep an open mind and meet people where they’re at, regardless of what they think of me,..."NASA’s Out and Allie Employee Resource Group helped me do that at work, and that carried over to my life..."I’m second generation American, the first in my family to go to university, and here I am married, working at...“People like to say, “safety first” — but that’s not true. If safety was first, we wouldn’t be launching people..."There will still be people who question everything and that’s a good thing—you also have to embrace critics and find..."[Studying black holes] is this combination of doing math, and also working out physical, spatial relationships — visualizing things orbiting...“On my Twitter page it says: rocket scientist, football coach." — Yusef Johnson, Flight Design Engineer, Kennedy Space Center"But here I am. And maybe I haven’t accomplished everything I want to do. But I can show little girls..."I get really excited talking to kids and inspiring the next generation of explorers. For our role as communicators, it’s..."I'm a hands-on person and I'm a Lifetime Girl Scout. So, I typically have to demonstrate things in a visual...“I’ve always wanted to learn about cosmology, specifically. The history of the universe is fascinating for me." — Dr. Howard..."I realized long ago that I am an ant carrying my little grain of sand. But someday, this anthill will..."I thought to myself, ‘well, that vehicle took off in not-so-ideal conditions. Things aren’t impossible.’ That’s what led me to..."I love seeing the spark in young kids' eyes when they see somebody that looks like them working on big...
