She Moved To The US Aged 17 With Just $300 And Now Is The Director For NASA’s Mars Rover

Diana Trujillo, an aerospace engineer who is now a NASA leader, arrived in the United States from Colombia in the year 2000 with just $300 in her pocket. Diana Trujillo presently oversees a 45-person team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which was in charge of developing the robotic arm that was installed on the Mars rover when it landed on the red planet lately.

Diana’s situation wasn’t always so bright. She was born in Colombia in 1983, a nation torn apart by political and drug warfare. Despite this, she had always intended to pursue a career in science, and when she was 17, she was offered the chance to fly from Colombia to Miami, Florida, to live with her aunt.

She managed to pay her way through college by cleaning the houses of the wealthy after arriving in the United States with just the $300 her father handed her before she left. At the same time, she was enrolled in a Miami Dade College Aerospace Engineering program, all while attempting to improve her English. She would sometimes have to take up to six different buses to get to class, but she never gave up.

Diana stated:

“Everything that came my way was an opportunity to me. I can’t believe I’m doing this work at night, or I can’t believe I’m cleaning a bathroom right now, were not my thoughts. It was more along the lines of, I’m pleased I have a job so I can purchase food and have a place to sleep.”

She was finally admitted into the NASA Academy after finishing her studies, making her the first Hispanic woman in history to be accepted. It was after meeting robotics specialist Brian Roberts at the University of Maryland that she was asked to join his robotics team. She was granted a permanent employment after finishing at the top of her class and eventually joined NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as a team member.

Her crew has already made history by assisting in the development of the robotic arm that will now investigate Mars’ surface for signs of prehistoric extraterrestrial life. ‘Curiosity’, a previous rover, was even accompanied by her commentary, which was broadcast to millions of people across the world. This was the first official NASA transmission to be delivered in Spanish.

Diana has been called one of the 20 most significant Latinos in science and technology, and she has been awarded the Policarpa Salavarrieta order of excellence by the Colombian Congress.

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