Day in the Life Series

Life as an Architect: 
​Kristin Akin-Zimmerman 

Come hear what it is like to work as an Architect in Los Angeles County!  Kristin Akin-Zimmerman is an Architect with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.  She will describe the process and qualities of a recently completed building: the Billie Jean Library in Long Beach (https://www.som.com/projects/billie_jean_king_main_library). Important attributes include sustainable features, unique construction techniques, and community programs. After a brief description, we will show a real-time rendering software that has an interface similar to video games. (https://enscape3d.com/features/).

Speaker Series

Planetary Protection Lead, NASA/JPL: 
​Dr. Moogega Cooper

Did you hear?  We landed another rover on Mars!  ​ W ith the Perseverance rover now driving on the surface of Mars in search for signs of alien life, it’s important that the spacecraft didn't bring along any Earth bacteria. That’s why NASA-JPL scientist Moogega Cooper has ensured that the Mars rover is free and clear of microbial stowaways. So if we ever do find life on Mars, we’ll be sure that it didn’t originate on Earth.

Dr. Moogega (pronounced Moo-ji-gae) Cooper received her B.A. in Physics from Hampton University in 2006. She then enrolled in Drexel University where she received her Masters and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in thermal fluid sciences. Her dissertation studies involved non-equilibrium plasma sterilization of spacecraft materials so it was a logical transition to work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Planetary Protection Group. She has been at JPL for 11 years, working on spacecraft to include Mars Science Laboratory, InSight, and most recently Mars 2020. She was involved in the Mars 2020 Mission as the Lead of Planetary Protection, and has transitioned on to leading the next endeavor with the Europa Lander concept. She is also involved in developing sterilization capabilities that could potentially be applied to the returned sample from Mars.

Missed the Event? Watch it here!

Panel Series

Women in Engineering Panel
Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Come hear from four awesome women about the paths they each took to reach their careers in engineering today, what they love about their jobs, and why engineering offers such great opportunities for women!  The session will allow attendees to submit questions to be asked of the panel. Panel moderated by Julie Newman, Electronics Engineer, NASA JPL
Panelists (shown left to right below): 

• Janelle Wellons: Instrument Operation Engineer, NASA JPL 
• Christine Cheng: Principal Systems Engineer, Northrop Grumman
• Amber Meighan: Software Engineer Facebook
• Helen Jung: Mechanical Engineer Honeybee Robotics

Click here to watch the recording!