NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Joeletta Patrick, Manager, Minority University Research and Education Program (Acting)Credit: NASA
Joeletta Patrick is a native of Greensboro, N.C., where she attended North Carolina A&T State University and received a B.S. in electrical engineering. Upon graduation, she moved to Houston, Texas, and began her career in the NASA family at Johnson Space Center. She worked as a flight controller for the International Space Station as the lead inventory stowage officer for ISS mission 2A.1/STS-96. She transitioned from the Mission Operations Directorate to Engineering to work as a time-phased power analyst. Patrick returned to the Mission Operations Directorate and became a civil servant in August 2004 working in the space station program in the Electrical Power System group.

Patrick’s career has been marked by positions of steadily increasing responsibility, leadership and assumption of new challenges. In 2009, after working as a certified flight controller, she served as the acting program manager of Johnson Space Center's Minority University Research and Education Program, or MUREP. To increase the diversity of her career, she moved into an acting position in the newly developed Johnson Space Center Integrated Project Office housed in the Public Affairs Office. In 2010, Patrick was selected to serve permanently as the program manager of Johnson's MUREP. During the course of her career in this position, she has served as the agency liaison for the Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology week. Her leadership resulted in a JSC Group Achievement Award for outstanding achievement in aligning Johnson with NASA's goal to inspire, engage and educate and the JSC Superior Achievement Award for her outstanding leadership, development and integration.

In May 2011, Patrick was selected as a MUREP Education Fellow as a developmental opportunity to work in the Office of Education at NASA Headquarters. She has worked with internal and external organizations, institutions, federal agencies, and the community. Her work has reflected her commitment to leveraging university relationships and investments, growing the number of diverse students prepared to work in STEM-based fields, supporting STEM initiatives, and serving as a spokesperson for NASA's commitment to STEM.

Patrick recently was selected to serve as the agency's acting program manager for MUREP at NASA Headquarters in the Office of Education. She enjoys volunteering in the community and serving in social and professional organizations. Patrick is president of the board of directors for The Legacy House, a North Carolina-based education nonprofit. She is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

February 2013