Nasa careers5/10/2023 “When I started in HR, I helped with teaching about disability and accommodations. So for the next ten years, she guided, directed, led, and advised staff members in the areas of equal opportunity employment laws, affirmative action, recruitment of students with disabilities and minority groups, and reasonable accommodations for disabled employees. She was able to use her degree in business administration with a concentration in human resources and her life experience as an African-American and disabled woman to provide expertise in the area of diversity and inclusion. She moved, and after just one year at NASA, Denna was promoted as Disability Program Manager. “NASA was there recruiting and asked me would I move for a contract specialist position, and I said yes!” Starting My Career at NASA “They were holding a conference where I was asked to also be a student speaker,” she said. The staff at career services encouraged Denna to contact Alan Muir, Executive Director of the Career Opportunities for College Students with Disabilities. Denna explained how she kept hitting a wall during her job search because employers couldn’t see how a person who was blind or visually impaired could do the work. I didn’t see people that looked like me, so I changed majors but kept math as my minor.” The Job Search BeginsĪs Denna neared graduation, she began looking for a job with the help of her college’s career services. I didn’t have role models of blind scientists and blind engineers. “I had really good math skills, but in my sophomore year, I let my professor’s doubts get in the way. She had difficulty getting her accommodations and being accepted in the program. Initially, she pursued a degree in electrical engineering at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, but she quickly discovered major trials with being an African-American female with a disability in the area of math and science. These experiences were just the beginning because soon after Denna would have even more challenges in college. And so going to a school for the blind during the summer helped. “But he got advice and made sure I got my resources and the things that I needed.”ĭenna said that even though she received accommodations and a teacher of students with visual impairments, it was still tough being the only blind student in her class. “My dad didn’t have the same experiences I had because of segregation, and he was fearful that it would be the same for me,” she shared. I can use some large print but do use a screen reader and braille.” Going to School As a Visually Impaired Studentĭenna said she attended regular public school and also attended summer programs at a school for the blind, even though her father was not in favor of it. “My parents were able to address it much earlier for me, and I have some remaining vision. “My dad had congenital cataracts but didn’t realize it until fourth grade when he went to a school for the blind,” she explained. She has congenital cataracts that run on her father’s side of the family. It is one of NASA’s 10 field centers and focuses on earth and space science.īut before coming to NASA, Denna lived in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she grew up visually impaired. She works at the Goddard Space Flight Center located in Maryland. Since 2004, Denna Lambert has launched a successful career working at NASA. This film featured African-American women in the field of math and science, making major contributions to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, popularly known as NASA. When the movie Hidden Figures premiered in 2016, Denna Lambert was excited, encouraged, and inspired. "I think my real rule is just say yes to anything that comes your way and you never know where it's going to lead.Denna Lambert Successfully Launches Her Career at NASA As a Visually Impaired Project Manager "I was just trying to make something that I thought would be cool," he said. "And I might be able to help with that."įeist said he didn't plan on working at NASA when he first started processing audio. "It's also exciting because they've stated that they're going back to the moon by the end of the 2020s," he said. "You can imagine it would be a dream for somebody like me to work here," Feist said. He's being contacted by people about the other missions and he is working for NASA to help manage their mission data in a new way. Instead, you can kind of understand 'Oh look they're just like people today and they were still able to achieve this amazing feat."įeist said it just keeps getting better. "It can get away a little bit from the more legendary status of mission control having the 'right stuff' and all being perfect. Ben Feist (left) with the multi-track recorder.
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