NSBE - November/December 2008 - (Page 14)

LaTanjia Robinson of Aerojet Engineering a Great launch in Aerospace By Siobhan Leftwich was one of the first students to approach the company’s booth. She was hired as an associate engineer in 1987, and she’s been with the company ever since. Today, Robinson is the chief engineer for the Delta II Program at Aerojet in Sacramento, Calif. She’s responsible for planning, directing and coordinating all engineering work on the Delta II program. In addition to leading engineering teams and managing technical progress, schedules and cost status, Robinson travels to launch sites, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where she serves as the Aerojet second stage engine technical representative for Delta II launches. “Supporting launches is extremely gratifying,” says Robinson, who admits this is one of the favorite aspects of her job. “It’s incredibly exciting.” During a typical week leading up to a launch, Robinson and her team travel to the launch site, present readiness review charts at pre-launch briefings, inspect the vehicle on the pad, monitor systems on the ground and work any technical issues in final preparation for flight. “When I first came to Sacramento, I thought I’d be here for five years,” she laughs. “Instead I found a community of peers who speak my language. Every day we’re making huge contributions to almost every aspect of society. We work on everything from communications satellites to jet propulsion to space exploration. And she’s clearly not the only employee who’s enthusiastic about Aerojet. “We have these license plates that say, ‘It Really Is Rocket Science,’ ” Robinson chuckles. “How cool is that?” So, how does the mother of two juggle work and family? Well, it certainly helps that her husband, Michael, is also an Aerojet engineer. “We’re definitely a team, and it helps that we live close to work,” Robinson says. She also attributes her ability to balance work and family to Aerojet’s collegial work environment and commitment to its work force. “I have been fortunate to have really good managers who have encouraged me to take any route I wanted to take,” Robinson says. “The opportunity has been there for me to explore each and every thing I’ve wanted to explore.” ■ www.nsbe.org “The opportunity has been there for me to explore each and every thing I’ve wanted to explore.” S ome kids know exactly what they want to be when they grow up. They dream of becoming astronauts or architects or even aerospace engineers. Not LaTanjia Robinson. Although she scored off the charts on aptitude tests in math and science during middle school, she never seriously considered a career as an engineer. But her focus changed, thanks to a black engineer who spoke to her high school class. “She talked about being an engineer, and probably for the first time, it clicked,” says Robinson. “The fact that she was an African-American woman and had attended the University of Southern California made the possibility of being an engineer a reality. It was something that I could do, too.” In 1983, Robinson entered USC, armed with the knowledge that a woman who looked like her had paved the way. She promptly joined NSBE and the Black Student Union, which she says helped her develop a sense of community on a campus that had a black population of less than 5 percent. Expanding her comfort zone helped Robinson focus on the task at hand: to excel in her classes so she could graduate with the skills needed to succeed in her field. Thanks to supportive professors and a thriving NSBE chapter, she finally discovered the major that made her tick: aerospace engineering. So, when Aerojet, a GenCorp Inc. company, came to a career fair in Southern California, Robinson 14 • november/december 2008 • http://www.nsbe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE - November/December 2008

NSBE - November/December 2008
Contents
How We Got Over
Obama Wins!
LaTanjia Robinson of Aerojet
Membership News: You Did It Again!
Cash In Your GPA!
NSBE-AE Signs On
Growing from One Love
New York Renaissance
Toronto Welcomes NSBE Convention Planners
Regional Officer Reconnects in Ghana
Texas A&M - College Station, NSBE's Distinguished Chpater of the Year
Lifetime Members: 118 and Counting!
NSBE Midshipmen
Vision and Change
The AE Niche
Thinking Green
Blacks in Computer Science: The Secrets of Their Success
NSBE Calendar
AE Programs Address Critical Goals
AE Members on the Move
Making Games for the Masses
Advertisers Index

NSBE - November/December 2008