Dr. Gale Allen remembers staring up at the stars in sheer awe as a young child. Back then, she never would've believed that she'd someday work for NASA—but as she told Lower School students on Mar. 18, by dreaming big, working tirelessly, and never giving up, she achieved so much more than she ever could've imagined. "And so can you," she said.
Dr. Allen's long career in aerospace has included serving NASA as Chief of the Materials and Chemistry Branch at Kennedy Space Center, Deputy for Bioastronautics in the Office of Biological and Physical Research, and most recently Deputy Chief Scientist at NASA headquarters. She is now the Executive Director at the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research.
She spoke to the students about the types of projects she has worked on over the years, such as helping develop the surface radiation detector on the Mars Curiosity Rover. "To be able to say I have worked on something that's on Mars is an amazing thing," said Dr. Allen. "It gives you so much energy to go to work and be able to do these kind of things."
She admits to being a "science nerd" growing up and encouraged like-minded students to fully embrace and follow these interests.
"Don't let anybody ever tell you you can't do something," she said. "Never, never give up."