Diversity & Innovation
A series highlighting Diversity and Inclusion in Innovation and Design Thinking
Ellen Ochoa
May 3rd, 2021
For the last installment in our series this semester, Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, former astronaut, and former director of the Johnson Space Center, located in Houston, Texas. In 1993 she became the first Latina to go to space, serving on a nine day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. In 2012 she then became the first Hispanic director and second female director of the Johnson Space Center, and was eventually recognized in Hispanic Executive’s 2017 Best of the Boardroom issue for her work as board director. Ochoa was additionally inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2017 and the International Air and Space Hall of Fame in 2018. She is currently a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the National Academy of Inventors and continues to share her experiences as a Hispanic woman in a STEM field in hopes of conveying the interesting and rewarding careers Latinas can pursue.