Diana Trujillo was part of a small team to land a robot on Mars and is now studying whether there is life on the planet. Trujillo joins Washington Post Live to discuss her work with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, advocacy around STEM education and journey immigrating to the United States from Colombia in our conversations marking Hispanic Heritage Month.
Highlights
Diana Trujillo
Provided by NASA JPL.
Diana Trujillo, an aerospace engineer, is currently Technical Group Supervisor for Planning and Sequencing and a Tactical Mission Lead for the Mars Perseverance rover. Born and raised in Colombia, Trujillo immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 17 to pursue her dream of working for NASA. While enrolled in English-as-a-second-language courses, she also worked full time to support her studies in community college and later the University of Florida and University of Maryland. She has held several roles for NASA and JPL, including Mars Curiosity rover mission lead, deputy project system engineer, and Deputy Team Chief of Engineering Operations on Curiosity. Trujillo has also been active in sharing the excitement and opportunities of STEM with the public. She co-created and hosted #JuntosPerseveramos, NASA’s first-ever Spanish-language live broadcast of a planetary landing, for Perseverance’s arrival on Mars, which attracted millions of viewers worldwide.