Imelda Terrazas-Salinas is a leader of the test engineering group at the Ames Research Center’s thermophysics facilities branch. Every U.S. spacecraft that has ever entered an atmosphere has had arc jet testing performed at NASA’s Ames Research Center.
Located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, NASA Ames has led research and development in aeronautics, exploration technology, and science since 1939.
Thousands of kids now learn English at public schools. When Imelda and her family moved to California, she relied on her school to teach her the language. One of her teachers recognized her passion and curiosity for science and suggested astronomy as a career.
In high school, a guidance counselor and her Spanish teacher encouraged Imelda to reach for the stars. Once she was accepted into Stanford University, she declared engineering as her major.
Imelda remembers, however, that many of her male relatives didn’t think that engineering was for a woman. She also admits that her female relatives seemed to agree. Her parents were supportive though and she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. A college advisor was also instrumental to her success by giving her words of encouragement.
Currently, Imelda is responsible for the training of new test engineers and interns. She has been mentoring since 2002, and several of her mentees have become full-time employees at NASA Ames. Three papers on which Imelda was a coauthor were awarded the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Best Paper by the AIAA Thermophysics Technical Committee.
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