LINDA DAWSON: rocket woman – Former NASA engineer Linda Dawson is an author, speaker, and science educator

Even as a child, visions of space exploration filled my fantasies. One year I wanted an erector set and microscope instead of dolls for Christmas.

During graduate school I worked for a while on rotor accoustics at NASA-Langley. Here I am standing next to a rotor hub like those that are found on helicopters.

In graduate school I helped perform tests in an accoustic chamber at NASA-Langley. I posed for this photo, as well as the wind tunnel photo above, so that the test facility would have a record showing the scale of the equipment used in conducting the tests.

I worked in more than one wind tunnel at the NASA-Langley Research Center during my graduate program. Here I am posing in front of a wind tunnel mock up of an F-5 Freedom Fighter.

My Master’s Thesis involved the estimation of aerodynamic coefficients using wind tunnel data. This is a six foot model of a Northrop F-5 fighter outfitted with sensors. The government wanted to know what it was about the F-5 design that made the aircraft so inherently stable. The models are flown manually in the full scale wind tunnel. NASCAR currently owns this facility and uses it not only to test new car designs but also to explore how race cars moving at high speeds effect the other cars around them.

In this shot I was filling in as the Flight Dynamics Officer (FDO) during one of the Space Shuttle Simulations. This is Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center at NASA Houston.

Linda's career trajectory spans government, industry, and higher ed:

A leader and motivator in the sciences

Linda Dawson shares her education and experience with the next generation

Engineer

B.S. in Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT; M.S. in Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, George Washington University at NASA Langley Research Center; Ph.D. courses (ABD) at University of Washington.

Author

As an author, Linda draws on her experience in the space program, aeronautics industry, and higher education to shed light on political issues in contemporary space exploration.

Educator

Dedicated to training the next generation of students in math and science, Linda taught college-level courses for over 30 years across a varitey of subjects in engineering, math, statistics, physical sciences, and technology.

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