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LAURIE
Y. CARRILLO, P.E.
NASA
Johnson
Space Center
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Materials Engineer
Ms. Laurie Carrillo served as
the Development Project Lead for the Space & Life Sciences
Astromaterials team and is currently the Lab Manager for the
Advanced Curation Laboratory, a laboratory to study future
extraterrestrial samples. She supports the Office of Curation
and Acquisition at JSC. Within this office she is leading
an effort to take the original lunar rock research data and
make it available to the public throughout the world via an
easily accessible electronic CD format.
Laurie spends the remaining
time working at the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory.
Currently she is engineering a vacuum upgrade to add to the
current design of the plasma rocket technology experiment.
This involves detailed calculations, creative designing, understanding
of mechanical engineering codes or rules, ability to adapt
current ideas to new constraints, and a love for rocket propulsion.
Awards
& Recognition:
Laurie is a recipient of several NASA awards: Individual
Performance Award for her work as an Ascent Analyst, Special
Professional Achievement Award-awarded to the Advanced Curation
of Future Extraterrestrial Samples Project Team, and Sustained
Superior Scientific Achievement Award-awarded to the Mars
Return Sample Handling Team, Length of Service Award-for five
years of service to the federal government and NASA (2003),
Special Professional Achievement Award-awarded to the Brooks
Lunar Sample Move Team (2003).
In addition, Laurie led the
Mexican American Engineers and Scientists Houston Professional
Chapter to receive the highest award that a chapter could
receive-Professional Chapter of the Year for 2001. Additional
awards include the NASA Flag Award for Outstanding Undergraduate
Research, the National Championship of the Engineering Academic
Olympiad team award, and an individual Appreciation Award
for her contributions to the 2001 NASA JSC American Heritage
Week.
Laurie Co-Chaired the 2001 International
MAES Symposium and served as a National MAES Board member
in 2001. She is a member of the American Society of Materials
International, The Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and
The Planetary Society. Laurie is an active participant in
the NASA Outreach program for which she received the Distinguished
Role Model and Speaker Award from The Hispanic Friends of
North Texas. She is the first at JSC to receive ascent analyst
certification.
She served on several committees
and was a group moderator for the Space Generation Summit
held at the World Space Congress. She represented the United
States amongst a group of 200 other young professional/graduate
student delegates from around the world. In 2002 she was nominated
and accepted a position on the Executive Committee of the
Houston Professional Chapter of ASM International (The International
Materials Engineers and Scientists Society).
Laurie has been selected by
the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) to receive the Past Presidents
Award based on outstanding academic achievement as well as
strong engineering potential. Ms. Carrillo will be recognized
at the SWE National Convention in Anaheim, California in November
2005.
Laurie was chosen as a 2005
Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Award Conference(HENAAC)/Daimler
Chrysler Scholar based on grade point average, leadership,
and campus/community service. Carrillo will be recognized
at the 2005 HENAAC conference in Anaheim Calif. in October.
This honor comes with a HENAAC conference package, including
airfare, registration, and hotel accommodations along with
a $2500 award to be used for educational purposes. [Link
to press release to be posted.]
Educational
Background:
Laurie received her high school diploma from the Texas Academy
of Mathematics and Science, a unique residential program for
high school-aged Texas students who are gifted in math and
science. She received a full scholarship from NASA Headquarters,
Rice University, The American Physical Society, and The American
Geophysical Society to study at Rice University. While attending
Rice University, she attained a B.A. in Mathematics and Computational
& Applied Math and a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering.
She received her M.E. in Space Operations from the Department
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University
of Colorado made possible from the direct support of NASA.
In the Fall of 2001, Laurie became certified as an "Engineer
in Training" by passing the Fundamentals of Engineering
Exam given by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers. In
2004, she obtained her Professional Engineering (P.E.) Certification.
Laurie plans to continue her
studies and learning because she firmly believes in the importance
of education. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Mechanical
Engineering at Rice University under thesis supervisor, Dr.
Yildiz Bayazitoglu. Her research involves the investigation
of heat transfer in a helicon plasma source. The motivation
for this was to provide developmental support of the advanced
electric propulsion system known as the Variable Specific
Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), a project led by Dr.
Franklin Chang-Diaz (first Hispanic Male Astronaut). Her work
has direct applications to the semiconductor, nanotechnology,
and bio-medical industries.
Laurie was born in San Antonio,
Texas. Her father was a migrant farm worker. Her mother was
the daughter of a trash collector. From humble beginnings,
Laurie credits God with all she has achieved.
Featured
Links:
Laurie's profile is also featured on JSC
Biography website. View on-line interview(s) at: espacial.com
(7/03) or reports at JSC
Features
Check out Laurie's article entitled
"Precious
Treasures on Earth" which she wrote for "Lunar
News." "Lunar News" is published by the Astromaterials
Acquisition and Curation Office, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
(JSC) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA). This article was also featured on the electronic JSC
Today.
JULY 2005
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