Powtawche Valerino facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Powtawche Valerino
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Valerino in 2017
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| Nationality | Mississippi Choctaw, American |
| Alma mater | Rice University Stanford University |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | mechanical engineering community outreach |
| Awards | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Education Award (2016) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Thesis | Optimizing Interplanetary Trajectories to Mars via Electrical Propulsion (2005) |
Powtawche N. Valerino is an amazing American engineer who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She helps design and guide spacecraft. She was a navigation engineer for the famous Cassini mission, which explored Saturn!
Contents
Growing Up and Discovering Space
Powtawche Valerino has a unique background. Her mother is from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and her father is African-American. She grew up on the Mississippi Choctaw reservation. When she was ten, her family moved to New Orleans.
A few years later, she saw the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion on TV. This sad event made her very interested in science and space. She also learned to play the cello at age twelve and still plays in an orchestra today!
High School and College
In high school, Powtawche got to work as a mechanical engineer intern at NASA. This was part of a special program for students who were doing very well in school. They got to learn from real NASA experts.
She earned her first degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. Then, she went on to get her master's and doctoral degrees from Rice University. Her special area of study was Aero-Astronautics, which is about flying in space.
During her summers in graduate school, she interned at other NASA centers. She even worked on a team for the X-38 vehicle, which was like a lifeboat for the International Space Station. In 2005, she finished her big research project about how to make space travel to Mars better. She was the first Native American to earn a PhD in engineering from Rice University.
Exploring Space with NASA
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In 2005, Powtawche Valerino joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her first project was about a mission to Jupiter's icy moons. Soon after, she joined the Cassini mission team. She was a navigator, helping to guide the Cassini spacecraft around Saturn.
The Cassini mission was supposed to last four years, but engineers like Powtawche helped it keep going for thirteen years! During this time, she often shared updates about the spacecraft and its amazing discoveries with the public.
Her most recent big project was the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft. This probe launched on August 12, 2018. It became the first spacecraft to fly closer to the Sun than any other before it.
Inspiring Others
Powtawche Valerino is passionate about helping more people get involved in science. She especially wants to encourage groups who haven't always had many opportunities in science.
She has worked with famous people like Soledad O'Brien to inspire young Black and Latina women to pursue careers in STEM. In 2016, she received an award from the NAACP for all her great work in helping others.
In 2017, Powtawche also helped promote the movie Hidden Figures. This film tells the true story of amazing African-American women who were mathematicians and scientists at NASA during the Apollo program.
Powtawche is also a big fan of comic books! She has even talked on podcasts about strong women characters found in graphic novels.
See also
In Spanish: Powtawche Valerino para niños
