“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it.”
Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut
You could say I had a bit of an NASA obsession since childhood. Growing up, I would collect newly released pictures and newspaper articles of all new press, asked for telescopes for birthdays, and spent my school breaks driving to visitor centers across the country paying for tours. In 2011, I even drove 14 hours to Kennedy Space Flight Center for the day to witness STS-135 in person; the last mission of the American Space Shuttle Program. To come as no surprise, when I joined the NASA team in 2017, my childhood dream had come true. For two years before relocating to O’ahu for graduate school, I was employed in the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory in the Earth Science Division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). As part of the Goddard Earth Sciences, Technology, and Research (GESTAR) Program, I researched the relationships between global infectious disease outbreaks and climate variability. My time at GSFC would quickly become one of the most memorable experiences of my life. As part of the largest organization of engineers and scientists in the United States, I worked on influential climate research and connected with innovators I had admired since childhood. These years and scientists helped kickstart my career and what an honor it was.
Sarah Hutchinson 