Dr. Mamta Patel Nagaraja will speak in Frederick this weekend as part of Women Fly it Forward.

Dr. Mamta Patel Nagaraja will speak in Frederick this weekend as part of Women Fly it Forward.

Courtesy photo by James Blair

Q&A with Mamta Patel Nagaraja NASA space scientist will give a talk at women fly it forward aviation event

Originally published March 7, 2013

By Katie Crowe
News-Post Staff

It could be easily said that Mamta Patel Nagaraja has become one of the most accomplished young females in her typically male-dominated field -- and at a very young age. At 33, Nagaraja works at NASA headquarters in Washington, managing the Women@NASA project, writing for the website and blog and visiting area classrooms on a weekly basis to talk about her experiences with NASA. She was most recently awarded NASA's Exceptional Service Medal, one of the agency's highest recognitions, in 2011. Nagaraja will speak at the upcoming Women Fly it Forward events on Saturday. The Frederick News-Post caught up with her by phone last week.

Were you interested in space at a young age?

I grew up wanting to be an astronaut. Sometimes, to me, it seems like it's the typical child's dream, but what I realized from talking to people is that it really isn't (laughs). My sister is 4 1/2 years older than me, and I proclaimed it (that I wanted to be an astronaut) after she did. That was around the time when (astronaut) Sally Ride went up. ... My sister grew out of it, but I didn't, and it ended up becoming my life path.

As I learned more about aerospace aviation in college, I got even more interested ... but I couldn't ever let go of the space aspect. Something about propelling beyond the atmosphere and going into an area that we as humans have little to no knowledge of was very appealing to me.

You're currently the manager of the agency-wide Women@NASA. Tell me a bit about that project.

It started in 2010, really out of an initiative by the Obama administration. They had told all participating federal industries that their intention was to have agencies create something that targets an issue affecting women and girls right now. NASA decided to focus on the gender gap in STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) fields. So NASA thought, why don't we tell the stories of women across our agency ... and made these wonderfully-recorded videos, kind of in the style of National Public Radio ... kind of an artistic take rather than a normal news type of story. Those videos are what the team used to build the (Women@NASA) website ... and then thought ... we could use them for outreach. They would take one or two and show them in classrooms. It's something that doesn't take extra time or federal dollars, and for the most part, teachers love them.

About a year and a half ago, you started the NASA GIRLS program within Women@NASA. 
What inspired that?

NASA GIRLS is a virtual mentoring program, that we just recently expanded to boys as well. I was teaching my nephew the ABCs on Skype one day, and thought it (teaching through Skype) was completely relevant to this generation. I found that a lot of women and men want to do a mentoring sort of outreach but can't find it or don't know what opportunities are available.

It's a five-week session in the summer, and the only basic requirements are that the child's family has to have Internet access, even if it's at the public library. We do it all through Skype or Google chat. The five lessons ... help them understand how (STEM fields are) used in the real world. For example, we had a lesson plan where the mentor used math to help the mentee determine the shift of the Earth on its axis when the Japan earthquake hit.

What is your favorite thing about the work you do with Women@NASA and NASA GIRLS?

Probably when I Skype into the classrooms. One of the first times, I had a kid say, "You're in Houston?" and he just couldn't believe he was talking to someone in Houston. It blew his mind (laughs). Kids, probably from elementary to seventh grade, ask some of the best questions -- sometimes things that adults are too afraid or teenagers are too timid to express. They don't take anything for granted -- when I say I train astronauts to fly in space, they always ask how. They're so curious, always pushing and wanting to know more. It allows me to see that kids today are really thinking and pushing boundaries and trying to find their own intelligence.

Have you ever experienced discrimination in your field based on your gender? And do you think times are changing or that discrimination still exists?

I get asked that question a lot and I always go back and try to think of a time when I have, but I really can't think of one. ... My age will sometimes hinder me ... when I know people think, "Oh you can't do that, you seem way to young to do that."

I was recently doing an interview for NPR in Richmond, and the guy interviewing me said, "the whole reason why I'm calling you is because I overheard my daughter and her friends talking, and my daughter said, 'I don't want to be an engineer -- that's a boy's job.'" He said he couldn't believe he was hearing those words. And I've had girls say to me on Skype chats before that they worry when they wear pink or wear their hair in a girly way that they will be discriminated against ... and they ask me if I've ever felt like that. So it's clear all these girls are still thinking about these things ... and that it's still out there.

What are you working on now? Do you have any other programs that you're going to be rolling out soon?

I think the goal right now is just to get full (federal) approval for NASA GIRLS and expand it to NASA BOYS. And to roll out new videos of another group of women (for Women@NASA) to keep it fresh.

You'll be speaking on March 9 in Frederick at Women Fly it Forward. What will you be speaking about?

Yes, it's my first time there. I think it's great, especially with the flights they're doing for the young girls. That's one of the most unique things I've seen. I'll be speaking about my journey, how I got into engineering and science as a young girl and the path I took to go into engineering.
For more information about the Women@NASA program or the NASA GIRLS project, visit www.women.nasa.gov.

PINK — WOMEN FLY IT FORWARD DAY Frederick Municipal Airport, 111 E. Airport Drive, Frederick

FLIGHTS
Weekday flights are available from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. for women and girls who have not flown in a small aircraft before, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. Visit the registration page on www.womenflyitforward.com for details.

SATURDAY LINEUP
· Mamta Patel Nagaraja
· Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Medical Certification Specialist, Marianne Hays, will be available at the Learn to Fly booth to answer questions about FAA medical certification
· Equipment demonstration by Tailwinds over Frederick
· Natalie Panel, Space Engineer for MDA, live feed from Ottowa, Canada
· Col. Pamela Melroy, retired Airforce combat pilot, test pilot and astronaut
· Traveling space museum exhibits
· Kid’s craft table
· Telescope time with the Westminster Astronomical Society
· Dana and Meredith Holladay, flight instructors and authors of “Fly the Airplane: what being pilots has taught us about life, love, survival and success”