>>KATRINA: One pink, furry monster is really excited about NASA.
>>LOLA: Thank you, tell us about your super powers!
>>DIANA: Well Lola, I don't have super powers.
>>LOLA: Of course you do! You know about science and math!
>>KATRINA: NASA engineers Sandra Cauffman and Diana Trujillo
partnered with the muppet Lola from the Latin American Sesame Street program,
Plaza Sésamo, to talk about how kids can grow up to one day work on NASA
missions like MAVEN and Curiosity. Their panel was part of an event with the
Inter-American Development Bank, promoting early mathematics and science education
in Latin America and the Caribbean. Sandra Cauffman,
an engineer and project manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland,
spoke about the day as a child when she watched the Apollo 11
Moon landing and decided that she too wanted to go to the Moon.
This seemed an unlikely dream for a young girl in Costa Rica, but her mother had some words
of encouragement. >>SANDRA: And she says, "Sandra, you never know,
if you put forth enough effort, the world will go around and around,
and you never know what may happen. You might eventually reach your dreams."
>>KATRINA: Cauffman battled poverty, gender stereotypes, and language barriers to eventually
work in the U.S. on a suite of NASA projects such as the MAVEN orbiter
at Mars. >>SANDRA: I never went to the Moon, but I landed
among the stars. Thank you so much. [applause]
>>KATRINA: Diana Trujillo, an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California, described her quest growing up in Colombia to find
a female role model in the aerospace sector. During college,
she was about to give up, until she found a NASA magazine detailing the
education and backgrounds of female astronauts. >>DIANA: To me, this
magazine gave me all the role models that I was so desperately looking for.
And it gave me that push that I needed to pursue my dream in exploration.
>>KATRINA: Soon Trujillo was awarded a competitive NASA Academy internship.
>>DIANA: Thousands of people apply. 18 people got selected,
and I was the only hispanic among them. [interrupted by applause]
[applause] >>KATRINA: This set her on a path
toward working on projects like the Mars Curiosity rover, and becoming a
role model herself for the young girls back home. >>DIANA: We can make a
difference for these girls. We can help them dare mighty things as well.
Thank you very much. [applause]
>>KATRINA: Cauffman and Trujillo spoke on the need for supporting young girls and boys
equally throughout Latin America, and providing them resources and
role models to be motivated in science and math. Their discussion has
already had a big influence on one young girl. >>LOLA: Because now, Lola
wants to become not only a soccer player,
and a president and a ballet dancer,
she also wants to become a
math teacher and an astronaut! Yes, this has...
[Lola fades out] ...been a wonderful day because Lola
learned that it is much easier to be a scientist or an engineer
than a super hero! Hahaha!