Women of NASA: My Dad
Valerie Maxville
The NASA website includes many biographies of their staff in various fields. One group is the Women of NASA (WON) who can be found at https://quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/won/ . Below are some excerpts from the biographies relating to the impact of fathers on women engineers careers�
ROSA OBREGON
Aerospace Engineer
https://oeop.larc.nasa.gov/hep/lwon/LWONbios/ssc-RObregon.html
Obregon learned a lot can be accomplished through hard work and a supportive family. Her father knew she had an interest in space from an early age and encouraged her every step of the way.
"My dad did a lot of little things to encourage me," she said. "He set up a telescope on the back porch when the planets were visible, and if I had any questions he couldn't answer, he would find the answers for me."
Monica H. Barnes
Electronics Engineer
https://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/bios/women/mhb.html
In High School, math and science were my favorite subjects. I knew I wanted to explore a technical field, but I wasn't quite sure what it would entail. My Dad suggested that I go into engineering, and that it could be an extremely lucrative career. He also told me that it would be a challenge, requiring lots of hard work and dedication, and that I would have to persevere if I wanted to be successful.
Stacey Morrison
Deputy Chief Information
Officer
https://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/bios/women/morrison.html
Since I was little, I have always been good at math and science. I got straight As in high school, and in most of my math classes in college. I also got straight As in biology, chemistry and physics. My father encouraged me to take the hardest classes in school, so I did.
Karla Shy
Aerospace Engineer (Flight
Simulation)
Software Programming
https://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/bios/women/kshy.html
I come from a family of five girls, no boys, and my parents never put bounds on my sisters and I because we were females. We were always encouraged to pursue higher education and were told we could be anything we wanted to be. I think I was always good in math and science, but I do remember my father encouraging me to hang in there when I thought that I would never get through some of those obscure math courses in college. He did however say, "if this math thing doesn't work out, you can always be an accountant", this usually made me want to work even harder in those math courses.