Dr. Ellen Lauri Ochoa is a NASA astronaut, flutist, and was the first Hispanic woman to go to space. Born in Los Angeles on May 10, 1958, she obtained her BS (1980) in Physics from San Diego State University (SDSU), MS (1981) and PhD (1985) in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. As part of her PhD, her roles as a research engineer at the Sandia National Laboratories, and the NASA Ames Research Center, she studied optical systems for performing information processing. She is a co-inventor on three patents.
In 1990, NASA selected Dr. Ochoa to be an astronaut and in doing so, she became the first Hispanic woman to go to space in 1993 while aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. In her career, she completed four missions, logged 978 hours in space, and aided in the construction of the International Space Station. Her leadership roles include serving as Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center starting in 2007, and then as the 11th Director of the Johnson Space Center from 2013 until her retirement in 2018. In holding that position, she also became the first Hispanic director.
There are numerous awards and accolades to her credit, including six schools that are named after her. She was awarded NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal (2015), and was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2007. She is also Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), and serves on several boards. She has given hundreds of presentations about science and engineering careers.
References:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20181201235716/http://www.calstate.edu/alumni/madeinthecsu/aerospace-aviation/ochoa.shtml
- https://www.nndb.com/people/037/000163545/
- https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ochoa.pdf?emrc=07a2c2
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Discovery-space-shuttle
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/International-Space-Station
- https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/ochoa-named-johnson-space-center-director-coats-to-retire/
- https://www.nasa.gov/people/nasa-astronaut-dr-ellen-ochoa/
- https://napawash.org/news/celebrating-womens-history-month-ellen-och
