Women @ NASA - Mai Lee Chang

Biography

Mai Lee Chang did not envision becoming a NASA engineer, growing up. At the age of six, she along with her family, settled in the U.S. as refugees of the Vietnam War. In fact, when she started elementary school, the only English word she knew was “restroom”. During her senior year in high school, her physics teacher suggested that she look into engineering as a potential college major. Mai Lee received a B.S. in Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics along with a Certificate in International Engineering and a M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012. Mai Lee is an engineer at NASA-Johnson Space Center within the Human Systems Engineering & Development Division since 2012. She started her career at NASA as a co-op student in 2006. She performs research and technology development in the fields of human-robot interaction and human-automation interaction. Mai Lee contributes greatly to NASA’s journey to Mars mission by understanding how humans collaborate with robots and automation; and how it affects the design of advanced automation and robotics systems. She is a part of the International Space Station (ISS) Flight Crew Integration team ensuring that science experiments meet human factors requirements. This helps maximize the time available for astronauts to conduct science research onboard the ISS. In addition, she is a part of the Orion Human Engineering team helping ensure that human abilities and limitations are incorporated into the design of the Orion spacecraft. The team is working towards Orion’s first manned test flight – very exciting! In her free time, she enjoys traveling and volunteering for Engineers Without Borders. Throughout her career, her parents and grandma played a critical role. They taught her to dream big and also taught her the language of hard work and perseverance and emphasized the importance of an education.