‘Please God and you will please all’: Faith at NASA
A third of NASA’s employees and nearly half of its latest astronaut class identify as female. Efforts like the Women@NASA and Women of NASA Lego set have brought these women to the forefront of the battle for gender equality in STEM. One of the amazing women of NASA is Dr. Tahani Amer, Program Executive for the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
“I love what NASA does, and [the] creativity and innovation that we do here at the agency,” she said. “That’s why I joined the team.”
Amer was raised in Cairo, Egypt. She became interested in engineering while watching her father fix his car engine. When the time came to choose a college major, she moved to the United States in 1983, without knowing a lick of English, to pursue her dream.
While completing her bachelor’s degree at Old Dominion University, Dr. Amer joined the Computational Fluid Dynamics team at NASA through a scholarship program with the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. The rest is history.
In addition to her amazing career with NASA, Amer believes in the importance of giving back. She’s involved in several community service programs, including NASA’s “Day of Caring,” Diversity Day, and after-school science clubs.
As a Muslim American, she travels around the country to educate people on Islam. She lives her life by three principles: “Please God and you will please all. Education is the key to opportunity. Serve others with compassion and kindness.”
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