NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Betty Humphery
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
betty.b.humphery@nasa.gov

News release: 08-029


HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Lorna Graves Jackson, an engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and a native of Everett, Mass., has received a National Women of Color Technology Award for exceptional professional and community service.

Career Communication Group's Women of Color magazine and the IBM Corporation presented Jackson with its "Technology All-Stars" award, recognizing accomplished women of color who are advanced in their careers and have demonstrated excellence as leaders at work and in their communities.

Jackson leads several employees as branch chief of the Avionics Systems Integration Branch in the Systems Engineering and Integration Division of the Space Systems Department, part of the Marshall Center's Engineering Directorate mentoring other minorities in this role. The branch includes avionics lead systems engineers that integrate various launch vehicle avionics hardware and software systems that support the Constellation Program, a NASA initiative to create a new generation of spacecraft for human spaceflight, including the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles.

Jackson came to Marshall in 1986 as a lead engineer for in-house electrical power systems test beds for the Hubble Space Telescope mission. She took on additional responsibilities in 1990 when she joined the technical support team at the Chandra X-ray Observatory as Electrical Power System lead engineer and Electrical Design Integration lead.

From 2001 to 2003, Jackson served in several roles with the Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Space Launch Initiative Program, including avionics lead sub-system engineer for Space Launch Initiative Vehicle Integrated Performance Analysis activities and Integrated Vehicle Health Management requirements lead for Marshall's Systems Engineering and Integration Office. The Space Launch Initiative was designed to develop technologies and lead to the creation of a second generation reusable launch vehicle.

Jackson moved to Marshall's Orbital Space Plane Program Office in 2003, where she was co-lead of the Exploration System Mission Directorate Ground Infrastructure Integrated Discipline Team. She helped identify NASA facilities, facility systems and support equipment for manufacturing, testing and logistics activities to assess ground infrastructure capabilities, risk implications and development plans.

In 2005, she was named acting branch chief of the Design Integration Branch of the System Design and Analysis Division in the Spacecraft and Vehicle Systems Department. Jackson led more than 50 civil servants and contractors that supported systems engineering and integration for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Constellation, Shuttle External Tank and Expendable Launch Vehicle Programs. She became deputy branch chief in 2006.

Jackson was named branch chief of the Systems Management Branch of the Systems Engineering Division in the Spacecraft and Vehicle Systems Department in June 2007, where she led a team of more than 60 employees in configuration, data and risk management, and engineering planning to support complex launch vehicle systems. She began her current role as Avionics Systems Integration Branch chief in November 2007.

Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta in 1982. She has earned numerous honors and awards during her career, including a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in 2000 for technical excellence and personal dedication on the Chandra X-ray Observatory Electrical Power System development.

Jackson received the "Technology All-Stars" award in November 2007 at the 12th annual National Women of Color Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Conference in Atlanta. The conference is for minority women in information technology, computer science, information science and digital arts.

Jackson and her husband, Kurt, have two children and live in Huntsville.

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