Scarlin Hernandez is a Dominican-American astronautical engineer. She is a spacecraft engineer for NASA’s

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope which conducts infrared astronomy. As the largest optical telescope in space, its high resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Spa ...

at the Space Telescope Science Institute in

Baltimore, MD Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Early life and education

Hernandez was born in the Dominican Republican and moved to Brooklyn, New York, at the age of four. She grew up in Baltimore, MD, and attended high school at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. In 2013, she earned a degree in computer engineering from Capitol Technology University in Laurel, Maryland, support by a full scholarship from the National Science Foundation. There, she also began to pursue astronautical engineering in her studies. She started a chapter of the

Society of Women Engineers The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an international not-for-profit educational and service organization. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in the United States, the Society of Women Engineers is a major advocate for women in engineering and ...

while at Capitol and served as secretary and later president. While in college, she also completed an internship at the

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

, where she was part of the ground control system team for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite, which operated from 1997-2015.

Career

Following college, Hernandez worked in various roles for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, including as mission planning lead, and systems engineer, propulsion engineer, and power engineer. From there, she moved to focus on deep space, joining the James Webb Space Telescope mission at the Space Telescope Science Institute. There, she works on the flight operations team on the deployment control subsystem. She supported the Webb telescope during its during its December 25, 2021 launch, and worked on cits onsole throughout its commissioning. She also worked on its Optical Telescope Element. While at the Space Telescope Science Institute, she has also participated in internal projects such as the Women Empowering Women program, the first institute-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion program, as well as recruitment campaigns with the

and Capitol Technology University. In 2022, Hernandez was the National Award of the Youth in the Dominican Republic, and the same year she was also included in Forbes Dominican Republic Las 50 Mujeres Poderosas República Dominicana. She has also been featured in the documentary Orgullo de Quisqueya and the Netflix documentary Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine.

External links

* Video
NASA Hispanic Heritage Month Employee Profile - Scarlin Hernandez - JWST Spacecraft Engineer (STScI)
* Video
NASA engineer celebrates Hispanic heritage at Cradle of Aviation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Scarlin 1991 births Living people 21st-century American women scientists Dominican Republic women scientists Women engineers American women engineers 21st-century American women engineers Women aerospace engineers Dominican Republic women engineers Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States Dominican Republic engineers Hispanic and Latino American scientists Hispanic and Latino American women scientists