Amberly Gable Diversity in Technology

    Franklin Chang-Diaz is Asian and Latino which means he is a part of two racial minorities that carry bias. Despite discrimination, he served as an astronaut for 25 years and completed a total of seven space missions. Additionally, after his retirement, he founded his own rocket company to continue working in building efficient and sustainable propulsion systems. Chang-Diaz had an interest in rockets from a very young age. He even made his own rocket as a child and launched it with a mouse inside. He later ended up studying plasma physics which launched his career as an astronaut. Under-representation definitely shaped his decisions in what to do for his career because his parents did not have advanced degrees and they came from immigrant parents. It is really important for young people who might experience racial bias to have the opportunity to learn about people like Franklin who achieved so many amazing things in his field. 

                                                                      Ellen Ochoa not only made an amazing accomplishment in science and technology, but she also achieved something amazing for her culture. In 1993, at the age of 35, Ellen Ochoa became the first Latina woman to travel to space. Her journey was held on a 9-day trip  aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Her accomplishments do not end there as she was also promoted to director of the center when the previous director retired in 2012. This made her the first Latina in Director of Johnson Space Center and the second female director. The biggest inspiration to Ellen in becoming an astronaut was growing up with a father who taught high school physics. Her fathers career along with her inherited talent for science and techn...