- [Presenter] Production and distribution of City Club Forums, an Ideastream Public Media are made possible by PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland Incorporated.

(bright music) - Good afternoon, and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday January 28th, and I'm John Sankovic the President & CEO of the Ohio Aerospace Institute.

We're proud to partner with the City Club and pleased to introduce our forum today, Pushing Boundaries and Breaking Barriers for the Benefit of All.

Today's forum is part of the City Club local heroes series.

The series is designed to ensure champions, living and working here in Northeast Ohio have a leading role in our continuing community dialogue.

The speakers represent a cross section of the brightest thinkers and doers whose hard work changes the way we view ourselves and view our community.

It's my privilege to be part of this today and to introduce Dr. Marla Perez Davis, Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

John H. Glenn Research Center.

(audience clapping) When Dr. Marla Perez Davis was growing up in Puerto Rico, there were some who doubted she could even become an engineer.

Today.

Dr Perez Davis is the first Puerto Rican born woman to serve (audience clapping) to serve as a Director of any NASA center and the second woman to lead Cleveland's NASA Glenn Research Center.

Dr. Perez Davis oversees more than 3,200 scientists engineers in both civil servants and support contractor roles and manages an annual budget of more than $900 million.

Under her leadership NASA Glenn continues to push the boundaries of innovation in space and aeronautics research by working to meet milestones on propulsion and power elements with the RMS missions where NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.

(audience clapping) The center also oversees innovations and electric propulsion to change the future of aviation, where the skies are tomorrow will look very different than they do today.

Moderating the conversation today is Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen, President and CEO of the Great Lake Science Center.

As in every City Club forum, you can participate with your questions please text them to 330-541-5794.

Again, that's 330-541-5794.

You can also tweet them to @thecityclub.

We'll try to work all of when the in.

Members and friends of the City Club of Cleveland, please welcome me, please join me in welcoming Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen and Dr. Marla Perez Davis.

(audience clapping) - Well, Marla, I know you and I are talking regularly.

Our teams talk constantly and usually it's because there's something new happening.

It's always busy.

I have to say lately it's exponential.

There's so much to talk about these days.

It's been amazing.

- Well, first of all, thank you everyone.

Thank you for the invitation on more than anything.

Thank you for your continuous partnership.

As you said the conversations start with our partners that you have an outstanding partner, and yes we are so excited about everything that is going on, and you have been part of that excitement.

We have great things going on here in Ohio, but lemme tell you a little bit about the latest, right?

So as you know, we have a long history of space exploration and we have 60 years of knowing how.

This is the exciting things.

Right now with Artemis which is how we call our going back to the moon, the excitement is around couple of things.

The first one is about going back to the moon.

We haven't been there since Apollo.

So that's number one, right?

So we have no number of generations that haven't seen a landing.

They have seen pictures, but they haven't experienced that.

And to tell you the truth from my view, I just remember a black and white image of some landing.

I didn't have any clue about what was going on or how difficult or complex was that mission.

More than my mom said, sit down watch this is important.

Okay.

Yes and that's what I did, but you reflect on those things and those are images that stick with you.

So going back to where we are right now so 60 years, right?

Exploration NASA Glenn being part of that.

And I'm telling you when John was talking about, the first woman in moon, the first person of color, we are also rewriting history, right?

Artemis is one back to the moon.

This time to stay is not just about flags and footprints is about going there in a way that is achievable and is sustainable.

And the sustainable part that we play big.

That's where NASA Glenn here in Cleveland, Ohio, have a strong role.

- I think so many people forget this, right?

But we keep saying, oh, we're going back to the moon.

You don't think that when you go to the moon, you have to go through Cleveland.

I don't know that anyone realizes so.

- That is so true.

That is so true.

The history you go back it has to go through Cleveland from the spacecraft, right?

In this case there's the spacecraft, what it takes us to get there.

Then once we are in the moon and opening the moon, what is happening there we are also involved in that.

So I will talking little bit about first, the spacecraft, what are we doing in Orion and the Space Launch System.

Then we will talk about the Outpost, the Gateway, what are we doing for the Outpost and how NASA Glenn plays there.

And then once we get there, right?

We learn the technologies are working, then we learn and that's the sustainable part.

We land on the moon, we gotta have the power system.

We have to have the materials, we have to have resources.

And then we do the exploration.

And in all those phases going back, it's first through Ohio to get there from developing the technologies, to the test, to helping integrate and manage those activities.

- You said Gateway and I get so familiar with this, but I don't know that everybody has really experienced why going to the moon is so different this time, like what's Gateway?

- Okay, so let's start with how we're gonna get there.

- All right?

- So Artemis is the broader world we're gonna get it there.

The first thing is the spacecraft.

So we have been living with our partners again, it goes back to partners it's not about just NASA, it's us, the industry and the international partners.

So NASA Glenn has a role in the Orion, which is for the spacecraft.

That spacecraft is gonna be adapt or connected with the Space Launch System.

Space Launch System SLS, is the biggest and more powerful.

Think about the Statue of Liberty is taller than the Statue of Liberty.

That's 322 feet.

So that's really tall, right?

So NASA Glenn is working to develop and help with the design and the development of the adapter.

We call it the Universal Adapter and that's what hook spacecraft and the launch vehicle.

So right now and that's for Artemis IV.

Artemis I which is the first mission that we are gonna use the spacecraft that NASA Glenn has been working with the European Space Agency and which was test here at the Sandusky Facility, the Armstrong Test Facility on the Armstrong Test Facility.

- The spacecraft is really, for everyone who grew up with the shuttle system, this is gonna be remarkably familiar going back, taking us back to the seventies, right?

I mean it's very different.

- It's different, but there's some similarities.

So the first thing is the Orion spacecraft.

That is what we call the service module.

And it has, it's created the powerhouse.

It has the proportion, the powers, the water, all the elements that are needed for the astronaut.

So that's the capsule that was tested here at the Sandusky facility.

So right now that is at the Kennedy Space Center and is being connected and it's ready with the Space Launch System.

So we are gonna have at the first mission is on crew, no astronaut, we're gonna be three weeks around the moon, we are gonna prove the technologies to make sure everything is good and then we're coming back.

So that Artemis I.

So that is we are working all the details all the reviews everything is going on right now.

We will have what we call a dress rehearsal in the next month and that will determine when we will set up the time for the launch.

So watch that launch because this early spring, and we are so excited about that vision.

So that's the first step, Artemis I.

Then we have Artemis II which is, we go around the moon.

So that's when we're talking about having the astronaut.

So, and then Artemis III which is then, we are gonna land on the moon and Artemis IV will be when we stay on the moon sustainable.

So Gateway is the Outpost.

Meaning once we are in the orbit of the moon, that's the place where the astronaut are gonna be back and forth around the moon and going to the surface.

So we have the responsibility for the first element, the power and propulsion element for that Gateway.

And the Gateway is the habitat and then the power and propulsion element, which really allows for power and the propulsion is to be able to explore the whole mode.

When we went the first time, we were pretty much constrained for the power that we have, which was in the sun areas of the light part of the moon.

This time we can explore all the moon because we can move around to do that exploration.

- I know you - A lot of excitement about that.

- All right and you haven't even fully gotten into all the elements.

So many of these pieces connect in to what's going on in Northeast Ohio.

I think of this and how we're helping get all this happen on the moon.

That's gotta have a lot of impact here back in Northeast Ohio, right?

And I don't know that everyone appreciates the footprint, the economic impact that NASA Glenn Research Center really has here in our community.

- Yes.

So when we talk about the technologies, right?

The technologies is not only about exploring space, the deep space exploration, those technologies find a place in our home planet.

For example we talk about power.

If we have to have power system that really operate in the moon for the astronauts to be able to leave and also to work 'cause they're doing it through exploration and discovery and all kind of science experiment that knowledge is transferred here and there to make for example, power grids more efficient.

So the knowledge come here.

So back to the economic impact, I wanna pull out some numbers because I am afraid that if I don't look at my numbers, I may put some of these numbers erroneously.

- Well they're big numbers.

- Yeah, they're big numbers.

They're big numbers.

So there's two type of studies that we have conducted in the past to look at the economic impact just exactly what you're asking.

So one was conducted by the agency and it was about the Moon and Mars Program impact economic impact on the nation.

Especially we found out that there's a couple of things.

The NASA federal budget is approximately 24 billion generate more than 64 billion in total economic output annually and support more than 300,000 jobs nationwide.

So that's nationwide.

If you go to Ohio just the Moon and Mars Program, Ohio is ranked in the top 10 states that benefit from the NASA efforts which include 2.3 billions for the state economy, 302 million of which come directly from the agency's Moon and Mar exploration efforts.

If we look I talk a lot about our Artemis, right?

So Ohio is home of more than 120 companies and suppliers that are contributing to Artemis.

And that's just the Moon and Mars.

We haven't talked even about aeronautics and all the other programs that we have in the agency.

So we also conduct a yearly study with the Cleveland State University and we look exactly what is happening here in the state of Ohio, especially Northeast Ohio.

So I am very proud to say that last full story, our economic impact exceeded 1.6 billion in Northeast, Ohio.

It supported more than 7,000 jobs and increasing labor income by 505 million and generated nearly 118 million in local state and federal taxes.

So when you look at those numbers and hear those numbers right, this is only the beginning.

As we start really working and really understanding how to live in another world in this case the moon.

And then with the idea that our objective is to get to Mars, right?

The reason why we go to the moon is not just because, exploration, is because that is the place that we can test our technologies and make sure that we have everything that we need to go to Mars.

So it is we're going to the proof of technologies, those technologies are gonna find a way to planet Earth.

So that means those numbers are just the beginning.

As I said, we don't do things by ourself.

It's in partnership with American industries, with our international partners.

Imagine in the future where the economy is also impacted by why would you solely on the moon.

What exactly, what kind of materials we can generate.

What kind of thing system, what kind of technologies, knowledge is transferred to products or to, like we have entrance of the center for those of you that have been at NASA Glenn for the benefit of all.

It's not just for the space exploration, it's for the benefit of all.

- I have like three new exhibit ideas in my head already listening to you talk for the science center.

But yeah I know we will.

I have to say you you've rattled off these numbers they're incredible, right?

You are talking about taking us not just to the Moon but Mars.

Marla you started this conversation talking about your mom sitting down you down in front of the TV, right?

To watch us landing on the moon.

Surely I mean, there's a story about you here too.

And I sometimes I get glimpses of this.

There must be these moments that you look back on and you think, how did I get it from here to there or those special moments that really changed your life.

And I know I don't get to hear enough about those.

- So would have to say talking about the moon and Mars is more exciting that talking about me, okay?

- No I- - Let's put it out there.

But here's the thing there's a lot of determination in what we do, right?

When we look at the challenges the challenges to go to the moon, the challenge to go to Mars.

And we transfer that to us as human beings, we all struggle with something, right?

We all have challenges and we all have to make sure that there's an internal drive, but we also depend on the system that is around us.

That that system is what help us to succeed.

That's what we NASA right now we're gonna be successful.

It's not just about NASA.

It's about the American public understanding what we do and being with us, it's about the industry being with us, it's about our international partners, it's of the collaboration, the partnership.

When I look back, I never in my wildest dream thought about being in the position of own.

It's a privilege is an honor.

And I'm very humble about it.

There's just no question about that, but I didn't get here by myself, right?

I did it because there was a system out there that was behind me.

Some of you probably have heard about my mom and my grandmother.

They were kind of the initial drivers in term of you can't be whatever you want.

Don't let people tell you cannot be something, right?

And in technology is a lot of the same, right?

When you start working on idea, there's people are gonna say, well, that's not gonna work.

And then some other person say, well, maybe there's something there, let's work together, right?

So I see that it's really how you collaborate, how you bring others with you, and then what you do once you are in a position that you can help others.

So back to my story, there's challenges, right?

Every day is a new day but there's challenges, there's struggles, but you have to have the determination and the will, you gotta have some kind of internal drive that get you to keep working and reaching out and some days go your way, some other days it just doesn't go your way, but teachers and for those are students, just please listen to your teachers.

It is many years after that you go back and say, okay, these teachers really make a difference in my life.

I was very fortunate that even when I was in a small town, that there was not a lot of resources, I have the benefit of having outstanding teachers that really, really work with us and make sure that math, interest in science, all of that, and really challenge of to the next step.

Because again, if that will not happen, probably I would not be here.

Really those teachers really make the difference.

And then after that obviously is you can be whatever you wanna be, for all the students here sky is the limit.

You can be whatever you wanna be.

You just have to work hard, make sure that it is not about what other think is good for you, but it's where you passion reside, right?

When you talk about the space or aeronautics or with all the things that we're doing for in both areas, there's a passion around it, right?

And there's this level of energy and desire to achieve, but achieve together.

So I see a lot of the NASA mission and probably a mission of any organization, very similar to what we all as individuals struggle with.

We all have challenges.

We all depend on someone else.

And we also are responsible to make sure that we bring others along.

So again, there's a lot of similarities.

- I love the way you're talking about challenges, because one of my greatest experiences with NASA is, you talk about risk very openly and very clearly and precisely about risk.

And it that's gotta resonate with especially when you talk to women working and moving their career ahead in STEM.

And I know you're passionate about that and that you carry others as you rise up.

I've heard some stories about you've talked about your mom and your grandmother but I do appreciate how you really are honest about risk in there.

- Yes.

So risk that's get really through my heart because just yesterday we celebrated the days of remembrance at NASA.

So let's not forget that a lot of individuals have given their lives for advancing the mission.

And yesterday we pause and reflect in that specific aspect of the risk.

It is a risky business.

We're in a risky business, right?

When we talk about space, when we talk about airline, all those things too have a risk and we felt very strongly that the best way that we can honor that those that have given their life, the ultimate sacrifice is to continue the advance of the mission.

So when we talk about, for example, the first woman on the moon, right?

That is gonna be really, it's gonna be a source of inspiration for a whole generation, not now but the ones to come.

And it also is gonna exemplify that it's not that easy, right?

Because it's taking us how many years, how many years to get there.

So again, talk about the challenge.

Sometimes you do have to have the determination and you have to keep working little by little to achieve that challenge.

It doesn't happen overnight.

And it takes pretty much a village to get there.

We will have the first woman on the moon.

We will have the first person of color, and that will be the motivation.

(audience clapping) That will solve the motivation to inspire everyone to achieve because if we can and achieve those things, this is kind of the platform to all other things that we still all other barriers that we have to break.

This is only one of many, right?

But it's gonna be one that is gonna rewrite the history books and we are all for it.

We are all for it, we're so excited.

Again, the first few months are gonna be very critical as we have the first test of you going on launching for the first time seeing Apollo.

So we're really excited about that and looking forward to what is to come.

- You mentioned Apollo, and I know and you referenced the Sandusky facility.

That might have been the last time we got to see each other face to face 'cause it's rare these days renaming the facility in Sandusky, the test facility, it's a big deal.

And it's something I think that resonates for all of us in Ohio, the decision to rename that.

- Yeah and it is a Testament of the role that Ohio plays, right?

We have talked a lot about space.

We haven't talked about aeronautics, but the Wright Brothers, right?

We do have a very rich story, history with aerospace especially aviation.

So you mentioned an ATF or the Neil Armstrong Test Facility and that is the place also that we have the very unique facility that is testing the powertrain what we call electric portion for planes, make it very simple, right?

If some of you not all of you, not all of you but some of you remember when we start talking about electric cars, it was like, Hmm, that is gonna be a tough sell, right?

Electric car.

Can we get there?

Electric cars are part of the things that we have these days.

So the same thing is happening with aviation.

So we're working on the technologies to make the planes.

First of all, again, we go back to the sustainable, but we also looking at lower emissions, noise control the noise, we are looking about technologies that will allow us for SuperSonic to be commercially available.

Meaning we can go from point A to point B in half of the time.

That is huge, right?

We also looking at advanced air mobility, imagine that you can get in the morning and instead of having to jump in your car, you jump in a little plane that is gonna take you from point A to point B, imagine that.

And we're working on the technologies to make that happens in term of using more electric systems for both the SubSonic but also for anything that will get us into the drones and the air taxes.

State of Ohio we're working with the state government, we are working with Ohio State University.

We're working with university of Cincinnati.

We're working with a number of industry here in the area.

Why?

Because we need to come together to make sure that we come up with the technologies, we test the technologies, and then we will have an economy that it will be vibrant because it will be about Ohio making a different from the manufacturing to the testing, to having those devices available to everyone.

And we all will benefit from those technologies.

SuperSonic we are right now working at NASA Glenn with Lockheed Martin (indistinct) because they are fabricating right now they're in the production of what we call the X-59 technology demo.

What is gonna happen is we're gonna be testing SuperSonic in a way that we can get data, to make sure that we work with US and international regulators to see how we can change some of the standards to make sure that we can fly SuperSonic.

So again and just to fly SuperSonic is not a about it it's about changing the shape of the plane, doing things on the technology side to reduce what we call the low boom.

What we wanna make sure is that we reduce the impact in the environment.

That is what it was gonna allow us to fly SuperSonic.

And again, the economic impact is huge.

So that's another aspect of what we do.

Electric propulsion, planes 10, 15, 20 years from now, they're gonna look very, very different.

Your guess, it's as good as mine.

We have some drawings that it out there they're gonna look different.

And this generation is the generation that is gonna make that difference.

- It's so exciting.

And I have to say you keep referencing testing and you've referenced the newly named Armstrong facility.

I don't know that the scale of that 'cause now it's been years since I've been at the Armstrong facility, it's mostly underground.

Every time I'm driving through Sandusky, I feel like I'm about to go off the road 'cause I'm always peering over, right?

'Cause all you see are the lumps, right?

And you are like deep underground there are some amazing test facilities.

It's stunning everything that's out there.

- Yeah and it's not just for NASA, right?

It's also for industry to do testing, you have a facility that is the as based environmental complex.

So instead of having to go different places for a test, you can come to this facility and you can do all these tests that you need to have before you launch.

So that was one of the key things that we did for Artemis, the Orion crew, we test and we make sure that it was ready for flight.

And then after that it was transferred then to Kennedy, where now is connected to SLS and ready for flight, hopefully early this Spring.

And that's gonna be our fast test that I keep referring to.

- And I think it was in the vacuum chamber.

I mean you say like make sure it's ready for You say that so quickly, but it involves all these different facilities out there.

- We have to make sure that thermal, what we call thermal gradients and things.

All the environment that is gonna be seen, the spacecraft is gonna see when it's gonna be launched.

That's what we simulate out there.

So electromagnetic wave.

So there's no interferes between the components, the thermal vacuum, the vibrations, all those things can be accomplished at that facility.

And you do not have to go to multiple facilities you can't do it there.

We don't do justice when we talk about the facility, because as you said, you really have to see the facility, the size of that facility.

And what is all always amazing and Brian and I have a lot of conversation about this is that these facilities were built many, many, many years ago.

I mean it's just like a matter of genius engineering genius put these facilities together and guess what?

They're still standing.

They're still making a huge impact in the way that we design things.

They're there for a purpose for us to test to make sure that it's safe, but also for us to learn and make sure that we make changes to the design or the testing and we find out if there's what is mitigate the risk.

As I said there's a risk, what things we can find out now that we can mitigate or fix before we fly.

That's what those facilities are for, to test before we fly.

I mean it's exciting if you wanna be safer, if you wanna be more environmentally sound like you gotta come talk to NASA Glenn.

- That's right.

- It's amazing what you do there.

Well I know that there are a lot of people who wanna get in some very specific questions.

So let me say that we are now about to begin the audience Q&A.

We do welcome questions from everyone City Club members, students, other guests or those of you joining us via livestream or the radio broadcast on 90.3, Ideastream Public Media.

If you'd like to tweet a question, please tweet it @thecityclub you can also text your questions to 330-541-5794 that's 330-541-5794 and staff will try to work that into the program, but maybe have the first question, please.

- Yes.

I've got one here from a text question.

It may have been answered a bit in this last bit of the conversation, but in case there's anything to add, what research is NASA aeronautics performing that'll contribute to the goal of the US becoming net carbon neutral in 2050?

- Can you repeat the last part?

- Can you repeat that last part it was about getting to net carbon neutral- - The US goal of becoming net carbon neutral by 2050.

So what research is being done to help contribute to that?

- So a couple of things, one of the things that we're working on is electrical systems.

So looking at electrifying propulsion, that's one way to reduce the emissions.

The other thing is looking at materials that are lightweight 'cause if you have have lightweight materials, obviously we reduce the amount of thrust that is needed to take off and land.

So there's areas in materials and also the power systems that we're working to achieve the reduction and moving more into green technologies.

- So as a woman who's interested in going into the science industry, do you think that the misogyny and sexism that women face in like the STEM industry has gotten better or worse over the years?

- So as I said, is working progress right?

And couple of things the first one is, is very different that it was when I started.

So let's make sure there's more women in engineer.

There's a lot of efforts like the NASA partnership with the Visitor Center, making sure that there's an awareness.

So that's one another thing.

The other thing is there's more efforts in term of being diversity and inclusion in all organizations because we all realize that creativity and innovation go hand in hand with the diversity and inclusion.

So I think that piece by itself is helping, but we still have work to do and we also have to make sure that it doesn't matter which generation, it doesn't matter if it's female or a male that we really have to inspire and motivate students to pursue degrees in STEM because that technology is here to stay.

We need technology in everything that we do.

So we need to make sure that we do everything we can but at the same time we still have work to do but is moving in the right direction I would say.

I don't know.

I would like your input too on this one.

- Right, I mean, you've got two people up here, very passionate about your question.

And the only thing I'd add is to say what helps is standing up at the mic and asking the hard question.

So keep asking that.

(audience clapping) - Okay, I'm assigned with the virtual questions.

We have one here from Twitter.

How do you and your colleagues see the recent private sector space efforts from Bezos and Musk?

- So as I said before, right?

The partnership, the collaboration between industry and federal agencies is key.

If we wanna achieve this very big challenges of going back to the moon, then to Mars and beyond, we have to do it together.

I think what we have learned in term of the collaboration is huge.

Our ability to really depend on our partners is also another big trust to make sure that we get to that next step.

So I would say it is good again, by going back to the diversity and inclusion, the diversity of thought, the diversity of technologies, the diversity options and the diversity of approach, all of those things make us better every time that we turn around.

And that partnership is critical for our success.

- What town from Puerto Rico are you from and what inspired your work in space as a kid?

- Okay.

The first one I got at the second part, I didn't get it.

- What inspired your work in space when you were a child?

- So I'm originally from Puerto Rico as I said before, and I was born in Ponce but I was raised in Adjuntas which is a small town in the middle of the island.

What motivated me in space?

In reality my passion was math and chemistry.

That was the two things that I started with.

And then one good day, I decided that I wanted to be a chemical engineer and one of the things with chemical engineers that chemical engineer can do a lot of things.

They can work in thermal system, they can work in electrical systems they can do processes, they can do materials, they can do a lot of things.

So I talking again about the system that you have around you.

I have a professor that was doing research and invited me to join the research in the energy area.

And when NASA went to Puerto Rico, I was made an offer to come and work for NASA.

Now, did I plan to be in space?

We all love space.

I never dreamed that I was gonna get an offer with NASA so it didn't take me more than two seconds to decide.

Oh yeah, I'll have to look at any other place.

I am going with NASA.

So again, and that's how I started my career.

(audience clapping) - I know that NASA Glenn has been working for years on production of a new battery, which is much, much smaller, lighter, and in size and weight and yet be able to produce more power.

What is the late I've heard so many rumors, what is the latest on the production of a new battery?

- So, great question.

Batteries are key for everything that we do right now.

I think even for all of you, right?

If your battery doesn't work and your iPhone doesn't work or your galaxy or whatever is your phone, we panic, right?

So we panic suddenly any power.

So the new batteries, we still work in lithium iron batteries.

We're looking at some solid state batteries, but really talking about batteries and we talk about patient and things that take along period of time.

Batteries are one of those things that you cannot accelerate the chemistry 'cause you accelerate chemistry you're not gonna get what you're looking for.

So you gotta come out with the design and the design for a battery that you use on your phone, a design of the battery that you're gonna use space or a design for a battery that you can (indistinct).

The outcome is the same, right?

You want power and storage of the electrical power.

The problem is that the requirements requires that you have a different design for those three things and the way that you test those things are also different.

So it takes time.

We still work in different aspect.

We always looking for new chemistries because again, how we can reduce the size and get more power or more energy storage in those batteries is key for our success.

So work in progress.

That's one of the things that make all so unique, right?

Our long history of working in all these power, propulsion materials, communication and obviously I didn't talk about microgravity, but microgravity is key.

One thing I will say is that the microgravity piece is another aspect that we need really to understand and have help greatly in term of coming out with how to manage firing space.

It behave different space that it does here on Earth.

And we have to make sure that we understand that because we will have that need to know what are the fiscals behind how to mitigate any chance, any risk for fires but if it happens how they will make sure that they can distinguish that fire in space, but those technologies also find a way here.

Thank you for that question.

(audience clapping) - (indistinct) we have trays and CAD engineering is one.

What area of engineering should I focus on to get into NASA?

- Well, we need all type of engineers.

So you just get into engineering or not, a couple of things.

First of all, when you're looking for the engineer field, find out what are the disciplines that you are more interested in?

For example, I said I was interested in math and chemistry.

So again, I look in the chemical engineer, but that doesn't mean that it's only chemical engineer.

Math and chemistry apply for pretty much all kind of engineer, aerospace, mechanical.

So it's a question about what is your affinity?

Are you more kind of the numbers?

Are you more in term of hands on mechanical system?

Are you more interested in like physics?

So have a discussion with your counselors at the school with your teachers and if you have an opportunity to talk to other engineers, there's no better way to talk to another engineer because you will have a better feeling for what do you really like.

A mechanical engineer can do different things.

So it depends of which field this individual is working, is how that concept is gonna be applied or does that knowledge.

So I think talking to others, shadowing an engineer for a day, it will help you a lot to understand, okay, what are the fields that I'm interested?

And you first year in college, you will have the opportunity to experiment and go into different classes that will give you a feeling for what that type of engineer will be doing.

But as I said, engineering is kind of a foundation, some engineers don't practice engineering, they go to medicine or they go to law or they just go and open their own business.

So again, it is just technology is everywhere and for me engineering also get you thinking different.

So that's another aspect of engineering, the ability of thinking in a more integrated, a different aspect of the problem.

So shadow someone, shadow someone come on and shadow someone at Glenn, seriously come talk to us.

(audience clapping) - Hi there, I have a question from Eric Webb tuning in from Sandusky and the question, some of the audience members know him.

How can we partner to leverage NASA's presence in Sandusky that builds on the physical facilities, testing capacity, underutilized land adjacent to the Ohio term pike and Sandusky's destination status?

Think Spacecare or Great Lake Science Center.

- So we continue to work with different partners to find out how to collaborate not just in term of the science and the technologies and the testing, but also in term of how we can be better neighbors.

So that's one thing that we work with the community with General Stringer and then Lawrence Sivic which is here with us today as State Director for NASA Glenn he's also very involved with those activities, but the first step is just to call us and have a conversation about ideas, thoughts because that's usually what we do for all the partnership.

We just have an exploratory session.

- We have another question from text from our text number and for the audience members who are listening on the radio, it's 330-5415-794.

This question, how are you prepared to deal with cyber security issues?

- Well, I think we all are working cyber security issues.

I think it's the work in progress because again, the technology is advancing and when we work one area, something else come up, new technologies are always being used and tools, processes, all those things.

So I think it's an area that is gonna continue challenging all of us.

And the first thing is awareness.

The awareness of what our system making sure that we do have the individuals that have that expertise, to do the assessment and look for mitigations.

I think that's one thing.

We also have as part of our organization, our culture is to make sure that we continue educating all of our employees about all technologies, but obviously cyber security is another area that we're making an extra effort to make sure we all understand.

What is our responsibility when we have computers, I mean, where our everything personally and professionally, right?

We depend on that.

So we could have to have, we have to keep up with the knowledge and understanding cyber security and how to mitigate any risk to our data.

- All right.

I have a question from in the room.

So this question is how can our regions support NASA Glenn, to ensure that Glenn continues to expand its role, leadership and budget in the overall NASA organization?

- A couple of things.

I think one of the things that we are very appreciative and City Club thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk today things like this the opportunity to in many ways create an awareness about our role in the community, economic impact that we have in the region, and what are the opportunities to partner with us.

What are the opportunities to come with us in this journey.

So I think that is by itself a great advocacy for the American public to understand what is our role and how the role that NASA plays really benefiting everyone.

That is not just about going to space, is not about having the next big airplane or the faster airplane, is about the economic impact and how these technologies really find a way to our home and help us to have a better quality of life.

So I think I will say that.

We also have within NASA organizations that really take care of the collaboration, the partnership, the kind of discussions that are needed to make sure that everyone is up to date and knowledgeable about what you do.

Josie is here with us, John Sankovic is here with us, JCP.

We have a number of organizations that continue jobs Ohio, continue to really, really make sure that our mission is communicating in different ways to the American public.

So for that, thank you.

Thank you.

- What is your favorite part about your job?

- Wow, that's a tough question.

The people, I'll say the people.

I think the people is my favorite part and the people because without the people we will not be able to do the things that we do.

There's so many brilliant people, so talented, so knowledgeable.

Taking care of the people is the thing that I take to the next step, because I think they're our biggest asset and they're gonna take care of the capabilities with our facilities, tool and all of those things.

So I think it's like a domino effect.

- All right.

We have a lot of text questions lined up.

So here's the next one.

Could you talk about how different centers in NASA compete for projects and the bearing that it has on NASA Glenn's future?

- So I think that there's a couple of things that I would like to say about that.

Some competition is good.

There's good competition because we all get better when we know that we have to really be sharp all the time, when is not good is when we get in a situation that it gets into toxic or in very negative environment.

I will say, we are not there.

We have made a lot of progress in term of having more collaboration between the centers and we been in a situation where we depend of each other.

And if we have some competition, it's because we wanna get better.

And in some areas we have even duplications and that is also a good thing because we need to make sure that we have corporate knowledge that can stand.

And that is also a good thing.

So I think I would say little competition is good.

Too much competition is not good.

And I think we have made a lot of progress getting away from that negative competition and getting more into the collaboration.

- I was wondering what was like one of the hardest things you had to overcome like getting a job at NASA?

- Couple of things and that why I paused.

So obviously when I came here to Cleveland, it was the first time that I was living in the state.

So the culture is very different.

Have to understand what's the culture, because it was very different, the language.

So that's another thing and then you're talking about many, many years and we're not gonna say how many, but the other aspect of that is the environment.

I think we got the question about women's in science and engineering.

There was not that many women when I started NASA.

So, I mean, there was a little bit of you have to prove yourself and then a Hispanic woman.

So and there's still a little bit of that.

Let's, don't kid ourself about that but I think the challenge is that you have to make sure that you always are yourself.

Don't try to be someone that you're not, and you just also have to understand what are your weaknesses and what are your strength.

And that's the way that you overcome the challenges.

You always have to recognize, hey, I can get better here, or I'm not good at this, but she's really good at that.

So guess what?

I gonna a partner with her, right?

I'm gonna make sure that I have a mentoring relationship or some kind of way that I get tips, understand how she approach certain aspects of the job.

So that way I become better.

So I think there's some kind of assessment that you have to do about yourself in terms of strengths, weaknesses, and then understand those, see which ones you can improve and some of the things take time, but culture I would say culture and language were the big challenges for me, not just to come here 'cause again, they have to make an offer, right?

Then I have to come and I have to find a way to prove my worth to some extent.

And I think that's in all of us to find that way of not everything is going your way all the time.

Not everything, nothing is easy.

You're gonna find times that you gonna have to pause and decide what is the next step that you need to take but for all of us there's ups and downs, we just have to make sure that we don't stay down all the time.

We gotta figure out how to stand up and keep going.

(audience clapping) - All right.

I have a question from one of our members that it was texted into us.

With Cleveland set to be in a prime position to observe the total solar eclipse in 2024, what is NASA doing to help raise awareness about this event and astronomy generally and the presence of the space technology worldwide?

- We will work on that.

We gotta work on that.

- The meetings between our organizations for the eclipse have been going for eight or nine months.

I mean, we are there like this is NASA Glenn and Great Lake and we are so ready for the eclipse.

It's going to be thrilling and really well.

- Looking forward to that hey, unique times, right?

Unique take advantage of that opportunity.

So we're looking for that.

- Yeah, it's going to be great.

It will.

(audience clapping) Well, thank you.

This has been tremendous today at the City Club, we've been listening to a forum featuring Dr. Marla Perez Davis, Director of the NASA Glenn Research Center.

It's part of our local hero series in partnership with Citizens Bank and Dominion Energy.

We'd also like to thank guests at the tables hosted by the greater Cleveland Partnership, HX5, Jumpstart Inc, Max S. Hayes High School, the NASA Glenn Research Center, The Ohio Aerospace Institute, Wycliffe High School, The Young Latino Network and Zen Technologies Incorporated.

We are happy to have all of you here.

Make sure to join the City Club next week on Wednesday, February 2nd we will be back at the Happy Dog with John Mitterholzer, Senior Program Officer at the George Gund Foundation.

He'll share his experiences at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Scotland last November.

And on Friday, February 4th, we'll be joined by Desmond Meade, Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

He will address the battle over the soul of our democracy and how access to the ballot box has become the site of some of the most important legislative conflicts.

There are only a few tickets left for this forum.

You can purchase them and learn more about other forums at cityclub.org.

And that brings us to the end of today's forum.

Thank you, Dr. Marla Perez Davis.

Thank you members and friends of the City Club.

(audience clapping) I'm Dr. Kirsten Ellenbogen and this forum is now adjourned.

(audience clapping) - [Presenter] For information on upcoming speakers or for podcasts of the City Club go to cityclub.org.

- [Presenter] Production and distribution of City Club forums, an Ideastream Public Media are made possible by PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland Incorporated.