Dionne Jackson

When I graduated from Spruce Creek High School (Daytona Beach, Florida) in 1987, I knew that I wanted to be a Chemist. This decision was made after I participated in the NASA SHARP program. After that great experience, I thought I would never see NASA again! I am happy to say I was wrong. Before graduating from high school, Mrs. Buchanan, manager of the SHARP program, guided me in applying for a scholarship program NASA had recently implemented with Spelman College in Atlanta. The great thing about this program was that it included a summer internship with NASA. During the summers of 1988 and 1989, I worked with the Bionetics Corporation in the Environmental Monitoring Laboratory. In the summer of 1990, I worked in the laboratory that I am in now. At that time, it was called the Microchemical Analysis Laboratory. I graduated from Spelman College in 1991 with a B.S. degree in Chemistry and began working for NASA in June. While working for NASA, I was accepted for a Master's program at the University of Central Florida and graduated in 1994 with a Master's degree in Industrial Engineering.

I work in the Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) at Kennedy Space Center. The function of the MSL is to evaluate materials and processes associated with flight hardware and ground support equipment. I am responsible for testing and identifying metal alloys. Materials are evaluated and selected for their compatibility to their environment. Failures, resulting in loss of property and sometimes lives, occur when materials are incompatible with their environment. For example, the Space Coast environment is very corrosive because of the nearby ocean. So we use metals that are corrosion resistant (cres) or we apply a coating to the material so that it gives it a cres property.

Even though our focus is KSC, the MSL also supports other NASA agencies, private industry such as Lockheed-Martin and Westinghouse and local schools. Some of the techniques that are used are inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescene spectroscopy. I will soon be submitting journals on each of these techniques to explain in more detail how they work!

I have been very fortunate to have had many role models in my life. First and foremost are my parents. They were always very supportive of my sisters and myself. We always knew that we could depend on them. They provided us with love and a strong Christian foundation. My sisters and I could also depend on our extended family: aunts, uncles, and cousins. Another important person that helped to shape my life was my high school chemistry teacher, Mrs. Aumiller. She was enthusiastic and made learning a lot of fun. She always made chemistry seem simple so that we could understand it and really learn to appreciate it. She is still teaching chemistry today at Spruce Creek High School. My church family was also a big influence in my life in prayers and encouragement.

The University of Central Florida will soon be offering a doctoral program in Materials Science, and I plan to begin preparing for that in the near future. As far as work goes, I will continue to work in the Lab, but I am also involved in mentoring programs, contractor surveillance, and a mission to Mars project. For the Mars project, we are simulating a Martian environment to do testing of materials.

I love to read, and I love to sing in my church choir. However, one of my all-time favorites is shopping! I give meaning to the expression "shop till you drop!" On Tuesdays, I mentor young girls in the 2nd through 12th grades. I also love travelling. It is my goal to visit every state in the United States in my lifetime and also to visit Europe.

READ, READ and READ!!!! I cannot emphasize enough the importance of reading. We have not allowed TV to come into our homes and dictate our lives. We need to turn the television off and read more. We need to encourage our youth and the adults that "Reading is Fundamental". It is the basis of all that we do. READ, READ and then READ again!!!!

• View Dionne's Video interview conducted by Lisa from our Young Women Advisory Council.
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• 02-13-01 Webchat Archive
• 10-05-00 Webchat Archive
• 02-16-00 Webchat Archive
• View Dionne's Astro-Venture Career Fact Sheet(This is a PDF file)

• Find out more about Dionne and her work from her NASA Quest's Space Team Online profile.