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Women's History Month at NASA Glenn

Portrait of Annie Easley at work in 1981 in the Engine Research Building's Central Control Room at Glenn Research Center

Current Women of NASA Glenn

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Maricela Lizcano stands inside NASA Glenn Research Center’s Aerospace Communications Facility. She is wearing a teal jacket and behind her there are mathematical equations on the wall.

Maricela Lizcano

Lizcano,a research materials engineer, recommends a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics career to anyone looking for a challenge or excitement.

Shattering the Glass Ceiling, One Generation at a Time

NASA is embracing inclusion and is pursuing a set of missions that will shatter the highest of glass ceilings.

Sarah Tipler poses in front of a mural of NASA astronaut Michael Anderson in Plattsburgh, New York. She is wearing a red jacket and a white shirt with black cats on it and is looking toward the sky. The colorful painted mural features Anderson wearing an orange spacesuit, the shuttle Columbia, and a view of Earth. The sky is blue and grass with purple flowers can be seen in front of the mural and behind Tipler.

Sarah Tipler

Tipler, a computer scientist, wants people working to overcome their own obstacles to know that they are not alone.

Contributions of Women in Aerospace Research

Women help conduct an aircraft engine test from the control room of the Engine Research Building in June 1944. The number of women employed at the Aircraft Engine Research Lab (predecessor to NASA Glenn) nearly doubled between 1943 and 1944.

Three women and a man face computers and monitoring equipment.

Featured Video

Tonya Mitchell

“Don’t be afraid of math. Do your best. I wasn’t an A student — but here I am.” Tonya Mitchell is a mechanical engineering technician at NASA Glenn. Learn all about how she and other women at NASA make ideas for satellites and aircraft come to life.

Turning Back Time

In this black-and-white photo, Loretta Shaw, who is wearing a dark-colored blazer, sits at a desk and reaches forward to adjust a knob on the equipment - filled with switches, buttons, and cords - in front of her.

Loretta Shaw

Loretta Shaw began her NASA career in September 1974 as an aerospace engineer studying V/STOL engines, acoustics, turbomachinery, and other aeropropulsion issues. In the early 1980s, Shaw moved to the Office of Technology Assessment where she provided technical reviews of Small Business Innovation Research proposals. In the early 1990s, Shaw joined the center’s Office of University Programs where she recruited graduate students to participate in research fellowships at the center. Shaw spent her final years at the center as head of the Compressor Branch. She retired in December 2004.

Pam Caswell

Pam Caswell began her NASA career as a technical editor in the NASA Lewis Editorial Branch. She and her colleagues worked with NASA researchers to summarize the findings of their research into technical reports for distribution. Caswell received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for this work in 1995. She moved to the Media Relations Office in the mid-1990s to serve as Technical Information Manager. In this role, Caswell authored a plethora of press releases. Caswell retired in April 2002 after 36 years at the center.

In this black-and-white photo, Doris Britton holds a corded telephone receiver up to her ear. She is wearing professional attire and sits at a desk strewn with papers and calculators. She smiles at the camera.

Doris Britton

Doris Britton was a chemical engineer for over 30 years in the Electrochemistry Branch at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. After earning a degree in her native Philippines, Britton applied for a U.S. visa with no intentions of ever leaving home. At the urging of colleagues, however, she decided to accept a position in Cleveland at Union Carbide in the early 1970s. In 1977, she successfully applied for a position at NASA Glenn. Britton specialized in the study of lightweight nickel electrodes for hydrogen fuel cells and the study of lithium-ion batteries. She retired in the mid-2000s with over thirty years at the center.

In this black-and-white photo, Phyllis Williamson, who is wearing a dark-colored sweater, types on a keyboard that's connected to a machine as she looks up at the screen above it. Behind her are other pieces of computer equipment and screens.

Phyllis Williamson

Phyllis Williamson was a Cleveland native who began her professional career as a secretary at the State Department in the early 1960s. In 1966, she accepted a similar position at NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland. Williamson enjoyed working with her hands, though, and gravitated to the center’s shop areas. At the urging of her father, she applied for the all-male Lewis Apprentice Program. In 1975, she became only one of 15 selected for the program from 4000 applicants. The four-year program combined classroom courses with hands-on training. In December 1979, Williamson graduated as an electronics technician. She was the first female to graduate from the decades-old Lewis Apprentice Program. Tragically, Williamson died of an asthma attack just weeks later at the age of 36.

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Helen Hauck

Research librarian Helen Hauck, seen here in 1959, was responsible for inter-library loans between the center and NASA Headquarters, other government agencies, and Cleveland area institutions. This network was expanded exponentially in the 1980s. In 2022 NASA created the new History, Archives, and Library Division to improve the delivery of its library and information services.

Woman standing at card catalogue.

Helen Hauck was a research librarian at NASA’s Lewis Research Research Center (today, NASA Glenn) who was responsible for inter-library loans.

Credit: NASA

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