Aaron Yazzie (born 1986) is a Diné ( Navajo) mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His work involves planetary sample acquisition and handling. He has worked on the Mars Science Laboratory,

InSight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intu ...

, and

Mars 2020 Mars 2020 is a Mars rover mission forming part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program that includes the rover '' Perseverance'', the small robotic, coaxial helicopter '' Ingenuity'', and associated delivery vehicles. Mars 2020 was launched from E ...

missions.

Early life and education

Yazzie is (Salt Clan) and born for (Bitter Water Clan). He was born in 1986 in Tuba City, Arizona, part of the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...

, and raised in

Holbrook, Arizona Holbrook ( nv, Tʼiisyaakin) is a city in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city was 5,053. The city is the county seat of Navajo County. Holbrook was founded in 1881 or 1882, when the r ...

, where his father was a civil engineer and his mother was a math teacher. Yazzie had originally planned on attending a public university in Arizona, but he decided to apply to Stanford University after meeting an admissions counselor at a pre-college summer program for Native Americans. While at Stanford, he interned at two NASA research centers: the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Glenn Research Center. He graduated from Stanford in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory career

Yazzie joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 2008. At JPL, he is a mechanical engineer working on planetary sample acquisition and handling. He has worked on the Mars Science Laboratory,

, and

missions. Since joining JPL, Yazzie has been involved in recruiting other Native Americans to work at NASA. Yazzie has said that the surface of Mars reminds him of the landscape near his Tuba City birthplace.

Personal life

Yazzie's parents were both first generation college students and he credits them with encouraging him to get a college education. He is actively involved in outreach to Native students and attributes success in his career to the work ethic instilled in him by his Navajo upbringing. Yazzie has had a long involvement with the

American Indian Science and Engineering Society The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit professional association with the goal of substantially increasing American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, First Nation and other ...

(AISES). He was an AISES college scholarship recipient, as well as the president of the Stanford chapter. Since graduating, he has become an AISES Sequoyah Fellow (lifetime member). Yazzie was featured in the book ''Notable Native People'' by Adrienne Keene. He currently lives in Pasadena, California.

Early life and education

Jet Propulsion Laboratory career

Personal life

References

External links