RELEASE
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08-090
NASA Marshall Center Manager and Birmingham, Ala., Native Kimberly Sanland Robinson Chosen for NASA Fellowship Program
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Kimberly Sanland Robinson, a project integration manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and a native of Birmingham, Ala., has been selected for the NASA Administrator's Fellowship Program.
As part of her fellowship beginning in August, she will teach classes for one year at Oakwood University in Huntsville, emphasizing to students the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. These fields of study are known as STEM -- fields crucial to NASA’s future exploration missions. For the second year of her fellowship, Robinson will engage in a comprehensive professional development program of her choosing.
The fellowship program, founded in 1997 and administered by the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation, is designed to enhance professional development of NASA employees. Also, for institutions serving minorities, the program helps increase their capability to participate in NASA's research and development programs. The program continues the Marshall Center’s long tradition of partnering with scientists, engineers, scholars and researchers at key institutions in Alabama and throughout the nation to promote education and expand STEM disciplines.
Those selected to participate in the annual, highly competitive process are full-time, permanent NASA civil servants, who hold a master's degree in a STEM field and are recommended by their NASA center director, branch chief or directorate lead. Robinson, who works in the Flight and Integrated Test Office within Ares Projects, will teach operations management in Oakwood's Department of Business and Information Systems. Her goal is to guide students in improving the efficiency, productivity and quality of operational processes, and to strengthen their decision-making and management skills.
"Through this fellowship, I hope to bring my passion about the value of education and the benefits of science and technology to the classroom to inspire, challenge and educate," Robinson said. "I am eager to strengthen communication and partnerships within the broader community and expand my experience to better serve the objectives and goals of the nation's space program."
Robinson started her NASA career in 1989 as a project engineer in Marshall's Propulsion Laboratory. Since 2005, she has helped lead the overall management and development of the Ares I-X test flight project, including heading the project integration team that handles the integrated master schedule, risk assessment and mitigation planning, configuration and data management, reporting and other duties for the Ares I-X mission. The Ares I-X is a test flight for the Ares I rocket, currently under development at Marshall and part of the Constellation Program to send human explorers back to the moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. The Ares I-X test flight is scheduled for April 2009.
Robinson earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., in 1989 and a master's degree in engineering management and systems engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1999. Her honors include a Silver Snoopy Award, which distinguishes NASA employees and contractors for outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success, for her work on the Space Shuttle Transportation System Program.
Robinson and her husband, Keith, have three children and live in Huntsville.
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