Irma Aracely Quispe Neira (born 1982; known as Aracely Quispe) is a

Peruvian-American Peruvian Americans are Americans of Peruvians, Peruvian descent. According to the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, , 720,626 U.S. residents identify themselves as being of Peruvi ...

senior

astronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

scientist, academic and researcher. She is known as the first Latin-American woman to lead three successful NASA missions in the United States:

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) was a joint space mission between NASA and JAXA designed to monitor and study tropical rainfall. The term refers to both the mission itself and the satellite that the mission used to collect data. ...

(TRMM), the

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric Polar orbit, polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic ...

(LRO), and

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. As the largest telescope in space, it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, Lis ...

(JWST). Quispe has been a senior flight operations and systems engineer of the successful James Webb Space Telescope launching. She is an official speaker at the NASA and the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

, professor at

Capitol Technology University Capitol Technology University (formerly Capitol College) is a private university in South Laurel, Maryland, near Washington, DC. The university was founded in 1927 as the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute by a former US Navy Radioman. CREI c ...

, and

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

educator. On April 12, 2023, she received from the Peruvian State the rank of Commander in Order of Merit for Distinguished Services.

Early life and education

Irma Aracely Quispe was born in Marripón, a rural community in the

Motupe District Motupe District is one of twelve Districts of Peru, districts of the province Lambayeque Province, Lambayeque in Peru. Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática. Banco de Información Distrital''. Retrieved April 11, 2008. References

...

of Lambayeque, northern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, where there was no electricity. Her mother Irma Neira Samame was an educator. Her interest in space and science began, when she was six years old and saw

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

Mission's broadcast and

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...

walking on the Moon, which made her want to work at NASA. In high school, Quispe began to practice

shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" thro ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

, and obtained a black belt, while being a teenager. She became part of national team and competed in regional and international tournaments, traveling throughout South America and the United States. Quispe graduated with a degree on Computer Science and Systems Engineering and at the age of 21 she moved to the United States, applying for a

permanent residence ''Permanent Residence'' () is a 2009 Hong Kong film starring Sean Li and Osman Hung. It was directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Danny Cheng, also known as Scud. The film explores several themes traditionally regarded as 'taboo' in Hong Kong societ ...

due to "extraordinary ability”. Aracely Quispe Neira at Goddard Space Flight Center

She enrolled at Space and Electrical Technology Engineering at

Prince George's Community College Prince George's Community College (PGCC) is a Public college, public community college in Largo, Maryland, Largo in Prince George's County, Maryland. The college serves Prince George's County and surrounding areas, including Washington, D.C. H ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. 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

(CapTechU) to study Astronautics and specialize in construction, operation and monitoring of

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

. As one of the best students at CapTechU, in 2011 Quispe did her internship at NASA 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 Quelccaya glacier in

Cusco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous Cusco Province, province and Cusco Region, department. The city was the cap ...

, using NASA

satellite images Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell i ...

. She has seven academic degrees, including a master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from

, an honorary Master's degree in

Geospatial Intelligence In the United States, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is intelligence about the human activity on Earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery, signals, or signatures with geospatial information. GEOINT describes, assesses, and visu ...

from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

and an honorary

Doctorate of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

from Capitol Technology University focused on an investigation of

communications security Communications security is the discipline of preventing unauthorized interceptors from accessing telecommunications in an intelligible form, while still delivering content to the intended recipients. In the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ...

GPS Satellites GPS satellite blocks are the various production generations of the Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System (GPS) used for satellite navigation. The first satellite in the system, Navstar 1, was launched by the United States Air ...

from malicious attacks.

Career at NASA

In 2011, Quispe applied for the

mission at the NASA Aerospace agency. She joined the LRO mission at the

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 ...

as a

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinkin ...

and in 2014 rose to team leader and the spaceflight operations leader. In 2016, she entered the

program, in which 17 countries and more than 3,000 scientists have collaborated. Since 2014 she has headed the following missions: the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and

(JWST) that was launched into space in 2021 to replace the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

. 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 Space Telescope project and was part of the team that put it into orbit in 2021 to study the formation of galaxies. Currently she is an official speaker for the NASA and the

. As a researcher Quispe investigated the deglaciation of the Andean snow-capped mountains in

area of Peru through high-resolution

. Her study contributed to raising awareness of deglaciation and its effects on

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

. An assistantship was provided by the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

(NSF) for this scientist's research while she was earning a master's degree in Astronautical Engineering.

STEM activism

In 2014, Quispe started a personal project, AQN (from her name initials Aracely Quispe Neira), that promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (

) programs among women and young people in Latin America. The initiative aims to provide Hispanic girls opportunities to pursue technology studies and succeed in professions including education, research, and innovation. With the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs support, Quispe participated in international forums to increase Latin American student interest in

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

industry. 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. She also visited Catholic schools of the

Archdiocese of Washington In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

St. Francis International (Maryland), Archbishop Carroll (District of Columbia) and St. Anthony (District of Columbia). The same year, Quispe participated in the Hay Festival Arequipa, where she brought together almost 1,000 young people to her presentations. For her STEM work, the House of Representatives and Department of State honored her in 2019. In 2023 ''Forbes'' ''Peru'' named her "One of the 50 most powerful women in Peru in 2023".

Awards and honors

* Diploma of Honor from the

Congress of Peru The Congress of the Republic of Peru () is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru. Due to broadly interpreted impeachment wording in the Constitution of Peru, the President of Peru can be removed by Congress without cause, ...

– 2013 * National award "Lord of Sipán" from the Lambayeque Regional Council and Regional Government of Lambayeque – 2013 * Peruvian Consulate in Washington D.C. recognition – 2013 *

TUMI Tumi ( ''Quechua'' for 'Knife', ''variants'': 'Tome', 'Tume'), is a generic term encompassing the many kinds of sharp tools utilized in pre- and post-colonial eras of the Central Andes region, Tumis were employed for a diverse set of purposes ...

Award – 2016 *

US Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Proclamation "for the great recognition and honor", Washington. Awarded by

US Congresswoman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of the ...

Grace Meng Grace Meng (Chinese: 孟昭文; born October 1, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 6th congressional district since 2013. Her district is situated within the New York City borough of Q ...

– 2019 * NASA Senior Science Committee recognitions as "role model from Peru in NASA" – 2015, 2021 * Honorary

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

from

– 2022 * The US Senate recognition for scientific work and professional career, including coordinating the launching of the "humanity's new great space observatory” James Web Space Telescope into orbit. Awarded by

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...

– 2022 * The International Gold Excellence Awards by the Peruvian American National Council, the United States – 2022 * Commander Degree in Order of Merit for Distinguished Services awarded by the Peruvian State, awarded to only 90 women in 72 years since its creation in 1951. Washington – 2023 * 2023 Outstanding Achievement Award from the NASA administration – 2023

References

External links