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Leedjia Svec Talks About Advancing Diversity In STEM

Season 1Nov 9, 2016

A conversation with U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Leedjia Svec, Director of Military Programs at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

The cover art display for the NASA in Silicon Valley podcast.

A conversation with U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Leedjia Svec, Director of Military Programs at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

Transcript

Matthew C. Buffington (Host): This is episode 16 of the NASA in Silicon Valley podcast. Today we speak with U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Leedjia Svec. She is the Director of Military Programs at NASA Ames and works as a liaison officer connecting the Navy and NASA. We discuss how she works connecting students and mentors and her work advancing and promoting diversity in STEM, within NASA, and throughout the government as a whole. Here is Lieutenant Commander Leedjia Svec.

[Music]

Host: Talk a little bit about how you came to NASA. Or more so, how did you come into Silicon Valley in general? Was it like through the military, or —

Leedjia Svec: Yes.

Host: — are you native from here or —

Leedjia Svec: So I am from the California — the state of California. And it’s a great place. I’m excited to be back. It’s about 10 years since I’ve been back in California.

Host: Really. Where’d you go off to?

Leedjia Svec: My first few duty stations were in Florida, Texas, and then Florida with Directed Energy Bioeffects Lab, the Center for Information Dominance, Corry Station, Pensacola, and Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida.DC

Host: Oh, really. So you’ve kind of been all over the place.

Leedjia Svec: I have.

Host: How long has it been that you’ve been here, though?

Leedjia Svec: It’s going to be two years October 16th. And I always had NASA as a duty station on my radar. I knew I couldn’t do it right away, because it required a certain level of seniority. But when it became available, I competed for it. And here I am. So I’ve always had this on my to do, my plan.

Host: It was on your radar to come back home and then come and hang out at NASA.

Leedjia Svec: Yes. NASA Ames. I mean, you can’t beat it. It’s a great place.

Host: Awesome. So like at what point — how did you end up — I mean, so you’re officially with the Department of — with the Navy.

Leedjia Svec: I am active duty Navy. And I’m a liaison officer. So I am doing an out-fill type of position, where we’re not in a traditional duty station or affiliate, doing our typical role. But they still have a lot of value in having military folks stationed in other places where we can be liaisons. For example, here my job is to look at all the technologies NASA has and all the technologies the Navy has and DOD, really, and put them together and say, “Okay. We have these redundancies here or these similarities there.”

Host: So how did you end up joining the Navy? Did you always have an idea of being at least involved in STEM stuff? Or is it just happenstance on how the career goes?

Leedjia Svec: STEM, yes. STEM is actually one of my earliest memories, so if you want to go way, way back, kindergarten, actually. Our teacher — she planted these seeds in these clear plastic bags. And we systematically measured how much water we gave them, killing two of them, you know, underwater, overwater, and just the right amount. But we measured it and every week measured the growth of these seeds and everything. And that is one of my first memories. It’s the scientific method.

So science has always been a part of me. I definitely consider that a core aspect to myself. But the type of science I do — certainly I didn’t know what it would be for a long time. And I kind of discovered that in college. But —

Host: Yeah. What did you end up studying in college? How did that —

Leedjia Svec: So my undergrad is engineering technology and psychology. I have a PhD in vision science, masters, PhD; and then a second masters in international relations, a certificate in data visualization. And I’m currently in a human systems integration certificate program, so —

Host: Did you go from that — were you in the military while doing that, or did that —

Leedjia Svec: The military community I’m in requires the PhD. So I got that over 10 years ago. And once we’re in for a while, they want us to continue educating ourselves and being up to speed. And certainly in Silicon Valley, you know, it’s not keeping up with people. It’s being — it’s avoiding being run over by all the technology. And just — you know, I’ve definitely embraced it here. I’ve water bottle that tells me when I need to drink and —

Host: Every month it’s something different.

Leedjia Svec: Yeah.

Host: Things are moving really quickly.

Leedjia Svec: So it’s definitely faster here than elsewhere in the country. But it’s great. I love it here, so —

Host: That’s cool. And so in most — I’m guessing that most branches of the military have these liaison officers. Most people think of the military, but they don’t really think of them being embedded and having that — I mean, having that connection with other agencies so that everybody kind of can have a connection to each other within just the federal system.

Leedjia Svec: Yeah. I think that’s one of the reasons that — you still need the human in the loop. Like for all our technology, we still need —

Host: Connecting databases.

Leedjia Svec: Exactly.

Host: It doesn’t matter if you don’t have humans. Yeah.

Leedjia Svec: Exactly. And it’s funny. To your earlier point of, you know, military, I definitely didn’t see myself in this position when I was younger. I didn’t know it existed. And I always saw what you saw on TV. And there’s so much more to the military than what’s stereotyped. And I actually had a STEM internship, which is one of my other passion areas, providing STEM opportunities and diversity. But I had this great mentor who was like, “No. You should really consider this career.” Right? I always kind of thought I’d work for the government and never thought I’d be in uniform.

But I had this great experience that showed — you know, everyone came to the table. We were all so different and diverse. And everyone was valued for our contributions. And we were doing things that made a difference. And, you know, on the medical service side, you are researching and wanting to, you know, make everybody the best they can be. And that’s a great thing to contribute to. So yeah. I’m still here. So it’s awesome.

Host: That’s great. You think of like — even being in this area, being in Silicon Valley, of different — you know, the different points of view and different perspectives. And like, having somebody with a military background being able to know what’s that like and contribute to these programs and partnerships and — before we did — had a conversation of like no matter what field you can think of, there’s a role for you at NASA.

Leedjia Svec: Absolutely. And that’s one of the great things this summer. I brought in — I’ve helped facilitate over 25 interns. And they ranged in background from government to sociology to, of course, the traditional aerospace and mechanical engineering. And they — a few folks — you know, they told their friends. Like, “You’re going to NASA? But you’re sociology, or you’re government or these different majors, psychology.” And the fact is, there’s a value. And there’s a job for everybody here, NASA Ames and NASA. You know, you can’t go to space on pure science alone. You need paperwork. You need government. You need business. You need all these other people.

Host: People have to help pave that way so that the scientists can get paid, so you can talk about it, and also see things that other people maybe don’t see when you’re focused on one project or one thing. Having liaison officers and other people just kind of help bring those partnerships together.

Leedjia Svec: Yeah. Partnerships is all about perspective. And the more diverse perspective you have, the better your product’s going to be. I mean, research shows when you bring in different viewpoints, you get more creativity. You get more problem solving. You get better solutions than if everyone had the same viewpoint. So it’s really exciting to facilitate. Of course, it can be challenging. But that’s one of the great things to — you know, one of — a fun challenge to overcome.

Host: And so when you looked and you saw this job, was it literally just a thing that’s online? Or you’re looking for another tour in the military? And are there multiple NASA centers that are possible to go to or laboratories and stuff or —

Leedjia Svec: So this one was created actually as a duty station years before me. And it’s changed in its nature of the job throughout the years. Honestly, the military has been involved with NASA since the ’50s, since before it was even NASA.

Host: Even where we are right now, the Moffett Airfield where NASA Ames is, was a part — it was previously —

Leedjia Svec: A naval…

Host: — even before NACA was even here.

Leedjia Svec: It was a naval air station. So it got put away to not be a naval air station. But the Navy — you know, a lot of the shuttle pilots have been Navy pilots. A lot of the work is very complementary. So a lot of people think, “Okay. Air Force I could see. You know, I get that. But Navy? What’s Navy and NASA doing together?”

And the fact is, both Navy and NASA have so much in common. For example, you know, the Navy is on, above, and under the sea. And we operate in these environments that — no human can be without life support. No human can be without extra augmentation. We’re in small quarters. We’re doing small-based crew work, all these different things that are very, very pushing the human limits. That’s no different from what NASA’s wanting to do, to take these — you know, these groups of humans and send them to Mars and other places.

Host: Exactly.

Leedjia Svec: We’re actually very complementary. You need life support. You need human factors. You need physics. You need to push the boundaries of all those things. So we’re studying very complementary subject areas. So to be a person that helps bring those two things together is so much fun. It’s challenging but so much fun.

Host: Oh, excellent. And so your typical day to day — because it sounds like — even like the different projects and groups that you’re working with tends to vary, I’m sure, from project to project. You talked about bringing students over and like focusing on STEM. How exactly does that play in?

Leedjia Svec: Yeah. So students are just a great resource. Honestly, they have an energy and an enthusiasm and a skill set that we can tap into to further all our initiatives. They’re students from junior colleges on up to postdocs. And they come to NASA through Navy-funded programs, as well as other funded programs or non-funded programs. And they can come as volunteers. But they come to work eight to 10 weeks, typically, sometimes even three, if they’re a cadet, for the summer to help augment the personnel here.

And one of the exciting things — we had a cadet come for three weeks. And a lot of people think, “Three weeks. What can you do with that?” He actually was crucial to preventing the loss of an entire year’s worth of work. He was able to take those files and recode them. They were — the license was going to be running out. So they were going to lose all that work. And he was able to go into those files and get that data before they lost them.

Host: Okay. Like a software license was going to expire. He literally went in and had to pull out that.

Leedjia Svec: And he spent three weeks doing that. And, you know, it was crucial. And no one else had the time or the capability to do what he did. So they would have lost an entire year’s worth of work if he hadn’t come here and done that for them. So even three weeks worth — you know, you can do something significant and contributory. So several of the other interns have done things that are mandatory steps along the process to getting — to taking UASs and UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles —

Host: Yeah. The unmanned air vehicles. Yeah.

Leedjia Svec: — unmanned aerial systems, to fly over volcanoes. He’s done all the math to show, yes, this is not going to accidentally, you know, fall and hurt someone or different things like that. They’ve done just these incredible things that really do matter that is such a huge help to our —

Host: Do you help bring them in and place them at places within Ames?

Leedjia Svec: I do.

Host: You find places where they can go and —

Leedjia Svec: It’s one of the fun things. I get to be a people person and talk to lots of folks here. So I do try to socialize as much as possible to get at what people need. And when I get a student with the right skill set and a mentor with a need for that skill set, then I can make those matches. And certainly I was able to keep a few for myself this summer and get a whole host of different tools and products and things developed and completed that were very instrumental and helpful to others. So it’s just been really nice.

Host: And it seems to be a range. Because it’s like you talk about like STEM fields. But you’re also thinking like mission support things for —

Leedjia Svec: Absolutely.

Host: So you’re kind of bridging both worlds. And that’s —

Leedjia Svec: I am.

Host: — kind of rare. I mean, not rare, but it’s unique for this area to be in — to keep your hands in both, you know, the research and the science and also making for sure that that stuff can happen.

Leedjia Svec: It is challenging. You are a bridge. As a liaison officer, you need to walk a fine line between the science and the engineering, which are complementary. They are different, though. I consider myself a little bit of both, having primarily more —

Host: Having your science background.

Leedjia Svec: — science, but a little bit of engineering, too. And so I love that I can do a little bit of both. I can speak both languages and bring them together. And I think that’s what makes this role pivotal and makes it successful. And it’s really so rewarding when people tell me like, “Wow. You’ve helped make a difference in my work. Thank you.” So it’s really nice.

Host: So do you also work from like — between military and NASA, do you also work with some of the outside groups, outside companies, outside startups and —

Leedjia Svec: I do. I have facilitated some partnerships and opportunities for several of the startups around here, for example, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, DIUX. That’s their sole role. So I was able to make —

Host: That’s almost like a little — like a military think tank that’s kind of here, that’s based in Silicon Valley.

Leedjia Svec: It’s a military startup that wants to take advantage and capitalize off the synergy that the Silicon Valley has, off the energy, off the —

Host: So it’s kind of stepping outside of the normal bureaucracy that — it could be so hard to get things done in the government. Kind of stepping away and having your own mini incubator — can kind of think of things outside the box.

Leedjia Svec: So they have hosted a number of things and helped companies take some of their products to market faster, for example, not wanting to own them but wanting to get access to them, as I understand them. And it’s been a lot of fun just making those connections for people and helping facilitate those different partnerships. And, you know, from National Guard folks who need to have improved motion sickness — because when they jump out of airplanes — you know, understandably challenging. And we have technologies here at NASA that can help reduce those performance impediments. So we’ve connected some folks here within NASA, and then connecting, of course, outside, as well.

Host: I know that you also do a lot of work with some of the diversity and inclusion stuff. And you’ve specifically worked with some of your students to make for sure that different groups are like represented, making for sure that really NASA but also like the military in itself is representative of the American public.

Leedjia Svec: Absolutely. So diversity is so important. Excellence demands diversity, and diversity demands excellence. It’s such an important thing. One of the best analogies I have for people who don’t always fully get it right away is that I was fortunate to go to West Point. And they had the West Point band — right? — this amazing orchestra. And the conductor got up and said, “Play.” And it sounded awful, I mean, awful. And I was just — everyone was like, “Um, what?”

Host: I don’t know if this is how that works.

Leedjia Svec: Yeah. I thought that they were supposed to be good. And he said, “That is diversity. And here is diversity with inclusion.” And then he got up and he orchestrated. He did his conducting. And it sounded beautiful —

Host: Making sure everybody gets a chance to shine.

Leedjia Svec: — the music that you expect to hear from, you know, the West Point band. So that was such a key analogy for me. We are all instruments. And maybe some of us are in the wood family. Maybe some of us are in the brass family, the guitar family. And within those families, there’s variation. There’s Spanish guitar and electric and acoustic and all these different types of instruments even with a family. And then within that, you have age and material. So you have all these variations. And — but you’re still playing this music. If we had the same, you know, monotonous tone over and over, that’s — no one wants that. Right?

Host: Yeah.

Leedjia Svec: That’s boring. And that’s not going to be helpful. But if you get these different instruments together and orchestrate them so that they can sound their best sound, then you get this beautiful melody. And that is what diversity and inclusion is. And when you bring different people together and don’t say, “I want you to be — you know, I know you’re from this culture, but I want you to act like you’re from another one.” That’s not going to be effective. And we unintentionally can do that sometimes.

Host: And sometimes you even make your own kind of groupthink where people with like personalities are attracted.

Leedjia Svec: Exactly.

Host: And — but it’s not even a difference of cultural backgrounds, but it’s — or regional backgrounds, for that matter, but also personality types. Some people are more extroverted. Some are more introverted. Some people, you know, have different ways of thinking.

Leedjia Svec: Exactly. Along the lines of thinking, neurodiversity is a term nowadays that’s so important. And that’s saying, okay, we have people who are — again, very different mindsets, very different brain sets. And we have this difference in, you know, whether you’re on the autistic spectrum or elsewhere.

These all matter. There’s a place for everybody. Yes, it takes work to include and infuse and ensure that we have this beautiful melody. But it’s worth it. I mean, it’s absolutely — we will not get to where we are — we will not get to where we want to be without diversity and inclusion. So Mars and beyond — we need to have it.

If you look at the International Space Station, these are thousands of lines of code, thousands of wires, all these different mechanical parts. They came together the first time right in space — and that was worldwide contribution — because of the director. I happened to meet him, and we had a great discussion. And he was very imperative about including these different voices and these different perspectives and ensuring everyone had an avenue to be the best that they could be. So when it came together, it came together right the first time.

Host: And I know that you’ve also done — you’ve kind of spoken with different groups, kind of had your students go out and speak to different groups to kind of like go back and tell them about the stuff that you’re working on or —

Leedjia Svec: They have volunteered to do that on their own, which just makes me so happy that — they come here a little fearful, honestly, a little, you know, anxious, a little tense, tentative. And then they leave just with this confidence and this capability and this desire and passion to share more about NASA.

I’ve had probably half of all the interns come here — who leave are like, “I’m going to my elementary school. I’m going to my high school. I’m going to other groups to share how awesome NASA is, how awesome the Navy is, how awesome these opportunities are.” And they want to share and say, “Wow. Coding is for you. Coding — you know, math is for everybody. You can do this. It’s not just the stereotypes. It’s so much more. And there’s a place for you here. There’s belonging.” And they felt like they mattered.

They said, “Wow. You know, for the first time, I was in a group — and I’m a woman. And, you know, I was coding at this hackathon that the Navy sponsored. And people actually listened to me. That was amazing. That’s never happened before as a — you know, a student and female coding intern.” And here she had that experience.

So the fact that we can facilitate that and encourage our mentor — you know, it goes to speak of the quality of our mentors and the quality of the people here. But it’s just really encouraging when you get those stories, and you get the folks and — I’ve gotten a bunch of thank-you cards and things I didn’t expect this summer from people just saying how much this meant to them to have someone believe in them. And now they can go forward and do these amazing things.

Host: And so for somebody who’s a student, whether they’re, you know, straight out of high school or even in college, who wants to get involved — I know NASA has its own kind of internship program. But for this group specifically, how do people go — even go about getting involved, getting a mentor, going about doing it?

Leedjia Svec: So that’s another great point. There are lots of ways to mentor others and to be mentored. So one of the — I’ll be honest. When I was much younger, one of the things I had was like, “Oh, it has to be this older person and gray hair.” And honestly, my mentor in the military was this young guy who was just great and said, “No. You — I want you to math model.” And I had never thought about that before. But I thought, “Well, if he wants me to do it, it must mean I’m capable. So I’ll go math model.” And then I ended up loving math modeling. It’s so much fun. So there’s micro mentoring moments.

You know, one person said, “You should give talks.” And when I was younger in my career and I thought, “I should give talks? Okay. I’ll start go doing that.” And it turned into so many other things and books chapters and all kinds of fun stuff that I just didn’t know were out there to be done. So on the short side, a lot of people think, “Oh, I don’t have time to mentor. You know, it’s so involved.” And it can be. But you can also do little things, like micro affirmations, to say, “You’ve got this. You can do this. You’re capable. Go do great things.” And that means a lot to people, more than anyone can imagine.

On the other side, there is the more formal side. For example, NASA OSSI is the website you want to go to if you’re someone listening and —

Host: One Step — One Stop Initiative.

Leedjia Svec: One Stop Shopping.

Host: Nice.

Leedjia Svec: Yes. And that is for NASA potential interns to go and make their accounts and sign up for NASA internships. And then for the Navy side, NREIP, the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program, is the acronym for that, NREIP. That website — you should go now, fall time, to apply for next summer to get in. And they have funded internships that are at labs throughout the country. And that’s another great avenue to go and get internships. And so yeah. There are formal programs for sure.

And if some students — you know, maybe they’re still junior, or they don’t have quite the experience to get a funded internship. You can volunteer and reach out and make those connections and develop those relationships and develop your skills so that when you’re here you get to do great things.

And — you know, whether it’s working in a fluid dynamics lab and testing disc golfs, discs for Frisbee. I got to see a student do that. And she really learned how to do the physics and was like, “You know, that was really hard. And that was the hardest part. But that’s what I loved the most about it is overcoming that challenge of the physics.” And, the mentor here needed her to do that for his educational outreach. And it’s just great to see that facilitated.

Host: Awesome. So people know what they need to search online to go find everything.

Leedjia Svec: Yes. OSSI for NASA and NREIP for Navy.

Host: And similarly, so if anybody has any questions, we’re @NASAAmes. We’re using the #NASASiliconValley. And so we can follow up with any questions people may have.

Leedjia Svec: Absolutely. I encourage anyone out there who does have a — whether you’re within NASA or within the DOD, if you’re listening in, please contact us and let us know if you have a project or an area you want to collaborate on. And I can help facilitate that. That’s one of my roles. And certainly if you’re a student, I encourage you to think about NASA and contribute to the awesome and amazing mission that we have. And if you’re just a person out there listening, I would encourage everyone to think a little different and embrace the diversity of STEM and advocacy that we can all do.

Host: Okay. Thank you for coming on over.

Leedjia Svec: Thank you.

[End]