Dr. Powtawche Valerino is an aerospace engineer at the NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Having spent her formative years on the Choctaw Indian Reservations in Mississippi and Montana, Dr. Valerino’s upbringing fostered a strong curiosity for natural phenomena and sparked an interest in what exists beyond our planet. Inspired by Indigenous folklore regarding constellations and planets, Dr. Valerino dreamed of becoming an astronomer at an early age.

This passion for the cosmos led Dr. Valerino to participate in organizations and activities that promoted the study of science, technology, engineering, and math, going so far as participating in NASA’s Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program. From there, she earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical aeroastronautics engineering from Rice University, having the honor of becoming he first Native American to receive a Ph.D. in engineering from Rice.

Since then, Dr. Valerino has worked at four different NASA facilities (Stennis, Johnson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Marshall), has worked on the navigation teams for the Cassini-Huygens, Europa Clipper, and Parker Solar Probe missions, and worked on the development of the X-38 vehicle (the International Space Station’s lifeboat). Dr. Valerino now supports the guidance subsystem for NASA’s Space Launch System program and designs activities for Artemis, NASA’s program to return humans to the lunar surface. Her aerospace research interests include trajectory optimization, optimal control, flight path control, spacecraft navigation, mission operations, and systems engineering.

Throughout her career, Dr. Valerino has provided significant engagement and support to women in underrepresented groups to pursue careers and educations in STEM, including presenting at the PowHERful Summit and NASA’s Hidden Figures to Modern Figures initiative. She is a recipient of the NAACP of Pasadena’s Education Award, a former GEM fellow, and an associate editor for the Journal of the Astronautical Sciences.

Author: Justin Oakland