Dr. Ellen Ochoa, Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center

Ellen Ochoa, PhD, former astronaut, engineer and current Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center. Partial biography from the NASA website:

As a doctoral student at Stanford, and later as a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories and NASA Ames Research Center, Dr. Ochoa investigated optical systems for performing information processing. She is a co-inventor on three patents for an optical inspection system, an optical object recognition method, and a method for noise removal in images. As Chief of the Intelligent Systems Technology Branch at Ames, she supervised 35 engineers and scientists in the research and development of computational systems for aerospace missions. Dr. Ochoa has presented numerous papers at technical conferences and in scientific journals. Selected by NASA in January 1990, Dr. Ochoa became an astronaut in July 1991. Her technical assignments in the Astronaut Office include serving as the crew representative for flight software, computer hardware and robotics, Assistant for Space Station to the Chief of the Astronaut Office, lead spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control, Acting Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office, Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations, and Director, Flight Crew Operations, where she managed and directed the Astronaut Office and Aircraft Operations.. A veteran of four space flights, Dr. Ochoa has logged over 978 hours in space. She was a mission specialist on STS-56 (1993), was the Payload Commander on STS-66 (1994), and was a mission specialist and flight engineer on STS-96 (1999) and STS-110 (2002). Dr. Ochoa currently serves as Deputy Director, Johnson Space Center.

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ochoa.html

http://www3.nsta.org/main/news/stories/science_teacher.php?news_story_ID=50189

Jose M. Hernandez, NASA Astronaut

NASA astronaut Jose M. Hernandez will ride on the Space Shuttle Discovery as a mission specialist on the STS-128 mission as it travels to the International Space Station. The launch is scheduled for late August 2009.

Born in California into a family of migrant farm workers, Hernandez spent his childhood picking crops all over California, and learned to speak English when he was twelve years old. When he was in high school, he heard a radio report about Franklin Chang-Diaz , who had just been selected to join the astronaut corp. Inspired by Chang-Diaz, and already interested in science and engineering, Hernandez decided that he would become an astronaut and fly in space. After earning a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of the Pacific in 1984, and an M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of California-Santa Barbara, he worked at the Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA. He joined the Johnson Space Center in 2001, and NASA selected him in 2004.

His full biography can be found on the NASA website:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/hernandez-jm.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts128/

http://www.astrojh.com/bio.html

John D. Olivas PhD, NASA Astronaut

NASA astronaut John D. Olivas PhD will ride on the Space Shuttle Discovery as a mission specialist on the STS-128 mission as it travels to the International Space Station. The launch is scheduled for late August 2009.

Born in North Hollywood, CA, and raised in El Paso, Texas, Olivas decided to become an astronaut at age seven during a family vacation to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. After earning a doctorate in mechanical engineering and materials science from Rice University, he worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, as a Program Manager of the JPL Advanced Interconnect and Manufacturing Assurance Program. NASA selected him in 1998.

His full biography from the NASA website:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/olivas.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts128/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts117/interview_olivas.html

Latino in America

Last night I saw a commercial for the new CNN special Latino in America, and I was so excited because CNN always does such a good job of covering Latinos. Yeah right.

Actually, when I saw the commercial I thought of all the successful Latinos I have read about online, but who have never been interviewed on TV. I decided to bring them together, here, on this blog. Each day I will post one or two profiles of successful Latinos in the sciences, business, media, the arts, and more. Enjoy!