Naia Butler-Craig
Born
Orlando, Florida[1]
Alma materEmbry–Riddle Aeronautical University
Scientific career
FieldsAerospace engineering
InstitutionsGeorgia Institute of Technology

Naia Butler-Craig is a science communicator and an American aerospace engineer.

Early life and education

As of 2022, she is a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research fellow in the High-Power Electric Propulsion Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology.[2] She joined Georgia Tech to pursue her doctoral research on electric propulsion after graduating from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University and working in the Space and Science Technology Systems Branch at NASA Glenn Research Center.[3][4]

Advocacy

While in high school, Butler-Craig participated in the Tech Sassy Girlz camp, and was highlighted in a later article about fundraising for the project.[5] She is the founder of Black Girls in STEM—an initiative to promote Black girls and women to serve as role models for younger scientists—and serves as the Head of Chapters for the Society of Women in Space Exploration.[6]

As an advocate to overcome racism in science, Butler-Craig has been highlighted by NowThis News in a 2021 video,[7] and has spoken with the media including articles by The Atlantic,[8] Space.com,[9][10] and the All Things Aviation podcast about the day the Perseverance rover landed on Mars.[11] The Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals interviewed her in a 2021 publications sharing careers in aerospace[12] and shared a video of her discussing her career in their Girls Launch program.[13] Butler-Craig has also discussed space propulsion on NPR's Short Wave podcast[14]

Awards and honors

Butler-Craig was named “Executive Member of the Year” by the National Society of Black Engineers, Region III in 2018.[3] In 2019 the Mars Generation program named her on their space award winners.[15] In 2020 she received the Modern-Day Technology Leader Award, part of the Black Engineer of the Year Awards,[16] and Popular Mechanic named her one of ten women to follow on Twitter.[17] She was featured in the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Science for her contribution to advancing diversity in STEM.[18][19]

References

  1. ↑ "Meet Naia Butler-Craig". VoyageATL. September 18, 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  2. ↑ "Naia Butler-Craig Selected for 2020 NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Grant". Georgia Institute of Technology. 2020-04-13. Archived from the original on 2020-10-21. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  3. 1 2 VanguardSTEM (2018-05-02). "Naia Butler-Craig". Medium. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  4. ↑ Leman, Jennifer (2020-02-11). "These 10 Women Are Changing the Way We Talk About Science". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  5. ↑ Santos, Christa (2016-03-24). "STEM & Tech Sassy Girlz". FORWARD Florida. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  6. ↑ Nayak, Anika (2020-03-20). "These Gen Z "STEMinists" Are Here To Close The STEM Gender Gap". Elite Daily. Archived from the original on 2020-03-21. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  7. ↑ "Seen: This Aerospace Engineer Is Pushing for More Diversity in the STEM Industry". NowThis News. August 3, 2021. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  8. ↑ Koren, Marina (2020-06-03). "The False Hope of an American Rocket Launch". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  9. ↑ Gohd, Chelsea (2020-01-14). "Billionaire hosts girlfriend contest for 'first woman to the moon' and (shocker) people hate it". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  10. ↑ Gohd, Chelsea (2020-07-08). "Space has a diversity problem — and big institutions like universities can do something about it". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  11. ↑ All Things Aviation & Aerospace (January 3, 2022). "Remember when the Perseverance Mars Rover first landed on Mars? Hear what the guys in the trenches were saying just before it touched". audible.com (Podcast). Event occurs at 00:24:50.
  12. ↑ "Naia Butler-Craig Dream Chasing to Become an Astronaut" (PDF). Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals. February 2021. pp. 14–15.
  13. ↑ "GirlsLaunch Digital Library". Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals.
  14. ↑ "Happy Science Fiction Week, Earthlings! : Short Wave". NPR.org. December 20, 2021. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  15. ↑ "The Mars Generation Announces 24 Under 24 Leaders and Innovators in STEAM and Space Award Winners for 2019". The Mars Generation®. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  16. ↑ "Modern-Day Technology Leaders". US Black Engineer and Information Technology. 44 (1): 60–69. 2020. ISSN 1088-3444. JSTOR 26924602.
  17. ↑ Leman, Jennifer (2020-02-11). "These 10 Women Are Changing the Way We Talk About Science". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  18. ↑ "Forbes 30 under 30: Science, Naia Butler-Craig". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-02-12. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  19. ↑ Jewett, Rachel (2020-12-02). "Space Scientists Naia Butler-Craig and Hannah Kerner Make Forbes' Under 30 List". Via Satellite. Archived from the original on 2020-12-04. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
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