A Johor-born woman, Florence Tan, is helping young Malaysians to aspire for bigger and better for their futures after it was discovered that she is the Chair of the Small Spacecraft Coordination Group (SSCG) at NASA Headquarters and the Deputy Chief Technologist (DCT) for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD).
Based on a report by Sin Chew Daily, Tan manufactures advanced equipment for NASA’s spacecrafts and rovers.
Growing up in a fishing village in Muar, to 2 teachers as parents, she too wanted to become a teacher when she grew up. But, after watching the sci-fi TV series, Star Trek, she changed her plans to becoming an aerospace engineer.
She had left Malaysia at 18-years-old, to complete her bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at the Western Michigan University in the United States. There, she then went on to complete a master’s degree and a doctorate degree in electrical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University.
Tan was also accepted as an intern into the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre based on her studies in electromagnetic theory and worked there full-time as a programmer when she graduated a year later.
Since then, she has worked on the Cassini project, a spacecraft to explore Saturn and its icy moons. She has also built electronics for mass spectrometers, a nose-like device that helps rovers to smell gas samples on Mars and Saturn’s moon, Titan.
It is truly amazing to see how far Malaysians can go in order to make their dreams a reality. Kudos, Florence, for following your dreams!
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