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Aracely Quispe Neira
Born
Irma Aracely Quispe Neira

18 August 1982, Marripón, Motupe, Lambayeque, Peru
NationalityPeruvian and American
Alma materPrince George's Community College
Capitol Technology University
University of Maryland, College Park
Scientific career
FieldsAstronautical engineering, Aerospace engineering, Planetary science
InstitutionsNASA, STScI
Websitewww.aracelyquispeneira.com

Irma Aracely Quispe Neira (born 1982; known as Aracely Quispe) is a Peruvian-American senior astronautical engineer, NASA scientist, academic and researcher.[1][2] She is known as the first Latin-American woman[3] to lead three successful NASA missions in the United States:[4][5][6] Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM),[7] the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO),[8] and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).[9][10] Quispe has been a senior flight operations and systems engineer of the successful James Webb Space Telescope launching.[11][12] She is an official speaker at the NASA and the United States Department of State, professor at Capitol Technology University,[13] and STEM educator.[4][11]

Early life and education

Irma Aracely Quispe was born in Marripón, a rural community in the Motupe District of Lambayeque, northern Peru, where there was no electricity.[14] Her mother was an educator.[15][16] Her interest in space and science began, when she was six years old and saw Apollo 11 Mission's broadcast[11][17] and Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon, which made her want to work at NASA.[14][18]

In high school, Quispe began to practice shotokan karate,[11] and obtained a black belt,[19][20] while being a teenager.[16] She became part of national team and competed in regional and international tournaments, traveling throughout South America and the United States.[21]

Quispe graduated with a degree on Computer Science and Systems Engineering[11] and at the age of 21 she moved to the United States, applying for a permanent residence due to "extraordinary ability”.[21]

She enrolled at Space and Electrical Technology Engineering at Prince George's Community College in Maryland.[14][22] An adviser at school suggested that to get into NASA, she had to continue her studies on Astronautical or Aerospace Engineering. Quispe followed the advice and transferred to the Capitol Technology University (CapTechU)[18] to study Astronautics and specialize in construction, operation and monitoring of spacecraft.[22]

As one of the best students at CapTechU, in 2011 Quispe did her internship at NASA[23] in the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), starting as a Test Engineer, and later becoming Systems Engineer. After finishing the internship, Aracely won a scholarship to do a Master's degree with a thesis on the melting of glaciers in Cusco, Peru, using NASA satellite images.[22] She has seven academic degrees, including a Master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Capitol Technology University,[18] Master's degree in Geospatial Intelligence from the University of Maryland and a Doctorate of Science[24] with honors from Capitol Technology University focused on an investigation of communications security in GPS Satellites from malicious attacks.[25][15][26]

Career at NASA

In 2011, Quispe applied for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission at the NASA Aerospace agency. She joined the LRO mission at the Goddard Space Flight Center[18] as a systems engineer and in 2014 rose to team leader and the spaceflight operations leader.

In 2016, she entered the James Webb Space Telescope program, in which 17 countries and more than 3,000 scientists have collaborated.[27][28]

Since 2014 she has headed the following missions: the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that was launched into space in 2021 to replace the Hubble Space Telescope.[24]

Quispe is a senior astronautical engineer, a leader in Space and Flight Operations at NASA, a senior flight systems operations engineer on the James Webb Telescope project and was part of the team that put it into orbit in 2021 to study the formation of galaxies.[29][30]

Currently she is an official speaker for the NASA and the United States Department of State.[31]

As a researcher Quispe investigated the deglaciation of the Andean snow-capped mountains in Cusco area of Peru[31][18] through high-resolution satellite images.[11] Her study contributed to raising awareness of deglaciation and its effects on global warming.[9] An assistantship was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for this scientist’s research while she was earning a Master Degree in Astronautical Engineering.

STEM activism

In 2014, Quispe started a personal project, AQN (from her name initials Aracely Quispe Neira),[32][20] that promotes science, technology and engineering (STEM) programs[11] among women and young people in Latin America.[9][6][33]

In 2019, she launched and personally funded a project in her native Lambayeque. She visited 20 national schools and brought together nearly 3,500 high school students to motivate them undertake scientific research projects.[15][19]

She participated at the Hay Festival Arequipa,[13] where she brought together almost 1,000 young people to her presentations.[15]

Awards and honors

  • Diploma of Honor from the Congress of Peru[34] – 2013
  • National award “Lord of Sipán” from the Lambayeque Regional Council and Regional Government of Lambayeque – 2013[35]
  • Peruvian Consulate in Washington D.C. recognition – 2013[35]
  • TUMI Award – 2016[36]
  • NASA Senior Science Committee recognitions as “role model from Peru in NASA” – 2015, 2021[26]
  • The US Senate recognition for scientific work and professional career, including coordinating the launching of the "humanity's new great space observatory” James Space Telescope into orbit. Awarded by Chuck Schumer – 2022[37][38][39]
  • The International Gold Excellence Awards by the Peruvian American National Council, the United States – 2022[38]

References

  1. ^ "GMS: Supermoon Eclipse 2015 Live Shots Interviews And B-roll". svs.gsfc.nasa.gov. 2015-09-15. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  2. ^ "Aracely Quispe: de un pueblo sin luz en Perú a comandar 3 misiones en la NASA". CNN (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  3. ^ "El cielo es el límite". www.americatv.com.pe. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  4. ^ a b Post, Mexico Daily (2019-12-14). "Aracely Quispe, first Latina woman to command three missions in NASA". The Mazatlan Post. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  5. ^ "Día Internacional de la Mujer: 10 icónicas mujeres que marcaron la historia del Perú". infobae (in European Spanish). 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  6. ^ a b "'El éxito no es suerte': líder latinoamericana dentro de la Nasa". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  7. ^ "NASA y la peruana Aracely Quispe harán historia con el lanzamiento del Telescopio James Webb". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  8. ^ "Arriba Perú! Científica peruana coordinó exitoso lanzamiento de telescopio de la NASA". Ojo (in Spanish). 2021-12-25. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  9. ^ a b c "Aracely Quispe, primera mujer latina en comandar tres misiones en la Nasa". RCN Radio (in Spanish). 2019-12-03. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  10. ^ "Aracely Quispe, la ingeniera peruana que llegó a la NASA". Caretas (in Spanish). 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Lettl, Dana (2022-03-08). "From Peru to NASA: A story that inspires". Earth Day. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  12. ^ Conoce a Aracely Quispe Neira, la ingeniera hispana del telescopio espacial James Webb - CNN Video, CNN, retrieved 2022-09-30
  13. ^ a b "Aracely Quispe in conversation with Saúl Pérez Montaño". Hay Festival. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  14. ^ a b c "Aracely Quispe, la peruana que nació en un pueblo sin electricidad y ahora es ingeniera de la NASA". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  15. ^ a b c d "Ella es Aracely Quispe, la peruana parte del equipo de la NASA a cargo del telescopio James Webb". elperuano.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  16. ^ a b "La inspiradora historia de Aracely Quispe, la ingeniera peruana que triunfa en la NASA". larepublica.pe (in Spanish). 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  17. ^ "Aracely Quispe, ingeniera peruana que triunfa en la NASA, recibe reconocimiento en Estados Unidos". larepublica.pe (in Spanish). 2022-07-24. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  18. ^ a b c d e "From Peru to NASA: A young scientist's journey". www.captechu.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  19. ^ a b "Aracely Quispe, la peruana que hizo historia con el telescopio James Webb, que hoy comenzó a mandar imágenes del espacio exterior". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  20. ^ a b "Aracely Quispe, la peruana que comandó tres misiones importantes de la NASA: "Mis pilares son mi abuelita y mi mamá"". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  21. ^ a b "Aracely Quispe, ingeniera de la NASA: "Nací en el campo y sin tener nada pude avanzar"". Peru21 (in Spanish). 2019-08-01. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  22. ^ a b c Pacheco, Andrea (2019-12-21). "Aracely Quispe, la primera mujer latina en comandar tres misiones espaciales de la NASA". Azteca America (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  23. ^ "Aracely Quispe: ingeniera que nació en un pueblo sin luz de Lambayeque lanzará telescopio de la NASA". elpopular.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  24. ^ a b "Peru-born engineer belongs to team putting NASA's James Webb telescope into orbit". andina.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  25. ^ "Rosa Ávalos and Aracely Quispe, Peruvian engineers at NASA". Archived from the original on 2020-06-14.
  26. ^ a b "Peruana Aracely Quispe, conoce a la primera mujer latina en comandar tres exitosas misiones de la NASA". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  27. ^ "Aracely Quispe: el orgullo y liderazgo de la peruana que conquistó la NASA". andina.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  28. ^ "Aracely Quispe, una peruana clave para el telescopio James Webb | tecnologia". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). 2022-07-14. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  29. ^ "Aracely Quispe, la peruana que trabaja en la NASA, cuenta cómo llegó a la meca de la comunidad astronómica". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). 2019-11-17. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  30. ^ "Webb telescope is already challenging what astronomers thought they knew". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  31. ^ a b "Conoce a la primera latinoamericana en completar 3 misiones para la NASA". Univision (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  32. ^ "La peruana que desde la NASA inspira a los jóvenes a superarse". Encuentro (in Spanish). 2019-11-19. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  33. ^ "Ingeniera peruana supervisará el lanzamiento del telescopio James Webb de la NASA". RPP (in Spanish). 2021-12-23. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  34. ^ "CONDECORARÁN A PERUANAS QUE TRABAJAN EN LA NASA". www2.congreso.gob.pe. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  35. ^ a b "Condecoración. señor De Sipán. Científica Motupana Que Trabaja en la NASA". www.regionlambayeque.gob.pe. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  36. ^ "Dos científicos peruanos de la NASA participarán en las celebraciones de independencia en Washington DC". NuestraGenteDigital.com (in Spanish). 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  37. ^ "Aracely Quispe, ingeniera peruana que triunfa en la NASA, recibe reconocimiento en Estados Unidos". larepublica.pe (in Spanish). 2022-07-24. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  38. ^ a b "Aracely Quispe, ingeniera peruana en la NASA, recibe reconocimiento del Senado de EE.UU". andina.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  39. ^ "Aracely Quispe, ingeniera peruana en la NASA, recibe reconocimiento del Senado de EE.UU". elperuano.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-27.


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