Episode 34: LaTasha Taylor
10.10.07
: LaTasha Taylor
(0:00) Intro
(0:19) The NASA
Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Project → deadline for students to submit proposals for 2008 flights is Oct. 31, 2007.
(1:03) Interview with LaTasha Taylor. University of Washington graduate LaTasha Taylor describes her journey from the inner city of Memphis, Tenn., to a career in the aerospace industry.
Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Project -- Microgravity University →
Spaceward Bound Mars Desert Research Station →
Ames Research Center Education →
Biographical Data: Mae Jemison →
(19:30) End
Send your comments or questions to:
educationpodcast@nasa.gov
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Transcript
Deana Nunley: This is NASA Student Opportunities -- a podcast connecting high school and college students with learning opportunities inside America's space agency.
Episode 34. Oct. 10, 2007. I'm Deana Nunley.
NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Project offers college students the opportunity to propose, design, build, fly and evaluate a reduced-gravity experiment. The deadline for proposals to be considered for flights in 2008 is Oct. 31, 2007.
Students and their experiments fly approximately 30 parabolic maneuvers, in a roller-coaster fashion, over the Gulf of Mexico on NASA's "Weightless Wonder." Each hairpin-maneuver provides about 30 seconds of hypergravity followed by about 25 seconds of microgravity.
You can get details by following the link in this week's show notes. Go to
www.nasa.gov/podcast and click on the NASA Student Opportunities podcast.
[Music]
This week, we get to hear the story of LaTasha Taylor, a student who emerged from the inner city of Memphis, Tenn., to land a job this year as a space systems engineer with a major aerospace company. Her role model is Mae Jemison, the first African-American female astronaut, and she hopes to someday become an astronaut, too. LaTasha participated in a lot of NASA learning opportunities along the way, and she'll share those experiences with us.
Her undergraduate degree is from Tennessee State University -- a bachelor's in aeronautical and industrial engineering with a minor in biology. And she graduated this year from the University of Washington with a master's degree in technical communication with a concentration in user-centered design.
LaTasha, it's interesting that you combined technical communication with your studies in engineering and biology.
LaTasha Taylor: Right. When you're thinking about space applications, sure, you have your robotics engineers. You have the mechanical engineers, electrical [engineers], but then you also have your geologists. You have biologists that are working together to create different space applications for exploration. You have all of these people working together from different technical backgrounds.
It's important to be able to know how to communicate between these entities and to communicate well. You have to be able to write well. You have to be able to speak well and articulate. That's something that maybe traditional engineering programs overlooked. When I got to the University of Washington and saw that they had the technical communications department within the college of engineering, I really became interested.
And so with usability, it goes even a step further. It can be summed up as engineering design with the human in mind. We're not only looking at, "Okay, does a product work? Does the product get the job done?" But, how? What type of experience is the user having as they complete a certain test using that product? Is it enhancing the user experience? Is it an enhancement to the user? After they've completed their task, are they saying, "Well, I finished what I had to do but I hated every second of it"? Or are they saying, "Wow. I was able to use this product to complete this task and actually I understood it. It was intuitive. It was user-friendly, and it worked"?
When you think about space applications, it's very important because, for instance, one of my internships at NASA Ames, actually, was with cockpit design. And it could apply, of course, to either aeronautics or aerospace. When you're thinking about the spacecraft cockpit or you're thinking about the cockpit of an airplane, you have all these buttons and different operating systems that have to go in a cockpit in order for it to work properly. If you look at the pilots and you think about what their needs are, then you could have a more intuitive system. You can have a system that's designed properly.
So I'll never forget that internship -- just really learning the difference between designing a good product and designing a great product. I remember having pilots come in and just test the system that we had developed based off what we thought they needed. We know because we're the designers and pilots don't know -- that's kind of our hypothesis at first: "We know what's best, because we're the designers." But then the second time we designed it, we said, "Okay. The pilots are the ones that have to use this. They know what's best for them. They know where they would like to see buttons. They're the ones that are in the stressful situation. Let's interview them. Let's talk with them to see what they think would be best." And so we did that, and you wouldn't believe the difference. Just actually taking the time and the effort to say, "We're going to incorporate the ideas of the user into this design," and it enhances it greatly.
Deana: As students are considering technical fields, they're considering getting involved with NASA, and you look at the new direction that NASA's going with the Vision for Space Exploration, what type of advice would you offer to students -- especially in light of the fact that you have such a passion for the technical communication piece, for the human factors piece of this?
LaTasha: I would tell them not to limit themselves at all. I mean, not only academically, don't limit yourself. But don't limit yourself with your aspirations. So academically, don't limit yourself when it comes to majors. Don't say, "Oh, I'm a traditional engineer so I must just stick with the traditional engineering." If you see even new fields within engineering or new components of engineering in the academic realm that may not be so traditional -- that you may not have heard of or you may not be sure of -- go ahead. Give it a try. See how that can complement your current skills and don't be afraid to try everything, because you never know. Engineering should be diverse. Engineering should bring in different components to make it better. So that would be my idea. Don't be afraid to step out there even in academics. Enhance your academic experience by gathering insight from different fields.
I always say it's not necessarily going beyond the box or going outside the box. Why does there have to be a box in the first place? That's always been my question [laughter]. What is this box thing anyway? Remove the box. Not only go outside it, but remove it. I think that's what I've done academically. I think that's what I've done through research. My research spans so far, not only within NASA, but with Boeing, and my research as a graduate student and an undergraduate student. You look at my resume, and people are like "Wow. So what is it that you want to do?" I actually want to do it all. I want to have a hand in it all. I want to say "Wow! I understand this and I understand that." That is where the technical communication comes in, because I have such a deep understanding of all of these systems and how they work together. Then I can come and jump from this station to that station and be effective and speak their language and terminology. That has made me a more well-rounded engineer. That's made me a better engineer because maybe I approach engineering from such a dynamic perspective. It's such a well-rounded perspective.
Deana: What influenced your college and career choices?
LaTasha: I think the first real space niche that I had to form was the result of reading about Mae Jemison. As a young kid, my mom would buy African-American books on different famous African Americans. We would read them all the time.
Then she got the book on Mae Jemison. I just remember standing there, looking at the cover for the longest because it has a picture of her in her astronaut suit with her helmet by her side with a picture of the moon in the back or something. I was just standing and looking at it like, "Wow!" And then when I began to read it and read her story, and just began to read everything, I just knew that that's what I wanted to do. I had to make an impact. The impact that she had on me just by reading that book and sharing her life story or her journey, I knew that I wanted to have that same impact on somebody else. And, so, I said, "Man, this would be really cool to be an astronaut." So that was my first, first encounter, just looking at what somebody else had done.
Then when I got to the ninth grade -- my mom works at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital -- this was how I got into the biology part. A group of people were walking, and they were all males. They just looked really important. I said "Mom, who are those people over there?" She's like, "Oh, that's a group of biomedical engineers. They come into the hospital, and they work with a lot of the prosthetics for the kids that need those things-- fake arms, fake legs." I was like, "Wow. That's pretty cool. But why aren't there any women in that group? Why aren't there any minorities?" And from that moment on, I knew I wanted to change things from that perspective, too.
I think the next major turning point was my sophomore year undergrad when I was at Tennessee State University. This was shortly after the discovery of the first extrasolar planet. A lot of people don't know, but Tennessee State had a major role in that. At that point, NASA donated quite a bit of money to Tennessee State to get an astrobiology research program going for undergrad students. At that point, I was asked if I wanted to take advantage of that summer research opportunity. I said, "Yeah, sure. I've always had this little secret passion for space, exploration and stuff, and I would love to be a part of this." So I was selected as one of the research students that started that summer. And then it carried on into the school year, and it just gathered from there. It became this real passion for me, just by one opportunity from NASA.
Deana: So you were in college when you became involved with NASA.
LaTasha: And it's sad that I had to wait until my sophomore year undergrad to even have this exposure. But then sometimes that's just how it is. But when the opportunity presents itself, you can't say, "Well, this opportunity came so late in my career, because here I am a sophomore." But you just really say, "This opportunity is here, and I am going to take advantage of it. It's not too late, even though I'm just hearing about this field, even though I'm just being presented with these opportunities to work at a NASA center." It's still an opportunity. And opportunities don't have times [or] dates stamped on them, or anything like that. It's not restricted by time. It's an opportunity, but [you may say], "It's an opportunity that came in my sophomore year." No. It's still an opportunity.
And so for me, I thought as such. I reacted to it, and I really took action to make that opportunity a reality. To make the transition from opportunity to reality, from opportunity to passion, opportunity to advance all those things. The factor is always you. You're the one that has to make that transition. And so I did. I took advantage of the opportunity, and I said, "OK. This is for me." I grabbed hold of it, and I completed the research program.
And then the next big opportunity came through NASA, being able to do the KC-135 and have that microgravity experience. And we were actually the first HBCU [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] to ever be selected as a team. And we were the first team from Tennessee State University to ever be selected. So that was just an honor. And here I am, finally doing the things that I read about in Mae Jemison's book -- how she was the first to do so many things as an African American woman. And to me, that was just amazing to see that box being removed, as I mention time and time again, removing that box. Who says that there's a box that restrains minorities or restrains women from doing space things? There is no box.
In undergrad I also had the opportunity to do an individual project entitled "Inflatable Solar Arrays in Astrobiology." I did this project and submitted this proposal to a NASA conference -- NASA Astrobiology Institute Conference. And I won first place in the undergraduate division. And I was like, "Wow, this is my first real project that I had done with NASA."
So I won first place, and all those people come and see the first place winners, of course. So two very important people came by my poster to see it. One was Woody Sullivan from the University of Washington astrobiology program, and the other was Juan Perez. He was the director of the Centro De Astrobiologia in Madrid, Spain. And Woody said. "Wow. This is great. We would love to have you come to the University of Washington and enroll in our graduate program." And Juan Perez-Mercader actually said, "I've got to have this type of innovation at my center. You've got to come for a summer and work." Because he really liked the way that I had incorporated both engineering and science into my research and into my academic journey. So I said, "OK. Sure. I'll come out, I don't mind." This is my first time out of the country at all. And I went to Madrid. I went for the summer of 2003, as well. But I had to cut my trip short because I had to come back and do the KC-135.
I did so much that summer that basically it gave me enough confidence, and all it takes is that one opportunity to give you that confidence. But that summer, I did the KC-135. I had the opportunity to intern in Madrid, Spain, under the director, and in Madrid I worked on the MARTE [Mars Astrobiology Research and Technology Experiment] project, basically the Mars drilling project. So what it was, they were going to drill at the polar caps of Mars, looking for life at the ice caps. And so not only did I do the KC-135 for two weeks in Houston, not only did I spend a month in Madrid, Spain, but I also got sent to NASA Ames to work on the other component of the MARTE project because the PI [principal investigator] for the MARTE project was actually at NASA Ames. Even though the Centro De Astrobiologia was a major part of that -- even though they were working on a component -- but the PI was at NASA Ames.
It's amazing to see how a project comes together and how that was my first real experience. I was like, "OK. At this center, they are working on the drilling part, and maybe at this center they are working on the sample collection part and the sample analyzing part." And so to be able to work under the PI at one place, and to be able to work on the main center responsible for the design, and to put all those together, and then have the experience of KC-135, it was just an amazing summer. That really solidified for me that I was going to be an astronaut, that I was going to be an aerospace engineer.
Deana: And were you also selected for the Spaceward Bound Mars Desert Research Station?
LaTasha: That experience was a true wake-up call for me when it comes to the skills and the resilience needed to be an astronaut. It's just like a real astronaut mission. It's pulling people from these different backgrounds, which is really appealing to me, because I love meeting people from different areas and working with them. I mean we're all strangers. So six of us were selected to work on this team, to work on this mission and complete this goal, and it really gave us an idea of what Mars would be like. It gave us an idea of what it would be like to be a Mars astronaut. So we'd go out on our excursions in full fin, what we call “fin” -- we would just have our suits on, water packs, GPS systems. We would have our radios so we could talk back and forth to each other. And we got around using ATVs, the all-terrain vehicles, which were like our rovers. Our rovers would take us around, and we would have to go. It was almost like a Mars obstacle course. We had to go up and over rough terrain. We really had to look out for each other. We became like a family, like an astronaut family.
Deana: Would you like to share any closing thoughts as you start your career as a space systems engineer and reflect on your experiences and achievements?
LaTasha: It's amazing when you can look back. Of course, at that time you don't really see the outcome. You just know that something great is going to happen. And that's the attitude that I had and that's what really put me through. It is the fact that something great is going to happen. You have to keep that mindset. You don't know what, you're not sure what, and you know that what you're doing is a little risky, but something great is going to happen. Because you're in your passion, you are doing what you desire.
When I started my graduate career at the University of Washington, I was the first African American woman to enroll in both engineering and astrobiology, which to me was another milestone -- keeping in the back of my mind Mae Jemison and the things that she's done. That was a great accomplishment in being one of the first African American women to do that.
That sums up pretty much my journey from as young as maybe the third grade. Reading the book about Mae Jemison, all the way up to "Here I am now with my master's degree," and looking back and saying, "Wow, it was so possible, and I don't regret any part of it."
Deana: LaTasha Taylor says she plans to enroll in a doctoral program within the next couple of years. If you'd like to know more about the projects she described, go to
www.nasa.gov/podcast. Click on the NASA Student Opportunities podcast, and follow the links in our show notes.
We want to hear from you. If you have any questions or comments about NASA learning opportunities, send an e-mail to:
educationpodcast@nasa.gov
Thanks for listening.
NASA Student Opportunities is a podcast production of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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