The great blue yonder

WRITTEN BY Haley Stringer Hedderick
Photography BY beryl striewski

		For many, space is the final frontier of exploration. But for Regina Blue, space exploration is merely a glimpse into the future of technology. As a pre-med major at the University of Houston, Blue started working with the federal government at the Veterans Administration Hospital. After discovering her passion was not health care but natural science, Blue transferred to NASA Johnson Space Center and switched from pre-med at UH to the mathematical sciences program at UHCL. At JSC, she was awarded a “Project IQ” fellowship to complete her undergraduate studies. Blue graduated from UHCL in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematical sciences. Blue first worked as an engineer in the Mission Operations Directorate’s Reconfiguration Division where she assisted with the incorporation of mission reconfiguration data into flight software.
AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Regina Blue was honored as a modern day technology leader at the 18th Annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference.

While in this position, she continued to promote merging engineering and technology to develop better communication procedures for space flights. One of her accomplishments was successfully implementing the first generation of the data change request automated system — one of the initial electronic distribution efforts at JSC.

To further her education, Blue enrolled in the instructional technology and distance education doctoral program at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Midway through her doctoral program, Blue accepted a position working in the Mission Operations Directorate’s Design and Integration area, which works with the strategic assessment of flights, crew situations, hardware requirements and the feasibility of shuttle missions to the International Space Station.

“My group endeavors to be a strong supporter of the ISS program by recognizing the importance of our assignments and executing plans consistent with our strategic goals,” Blue explains. “This requires strong leadership and the pursuit of excellence in every aspect of our daily work.”

The shuttle missions Blue plans not only explore space but the future advancement of life on Earth. With each new mission, Blue has the opportunity to fulfill her goal of changing the technology and methods used for future space exploration.

Blue was recently honored for her many accomplishments in the fields of technology and engineering with a Modern Day Technology Leader award at the 18th Annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference. This award honors men and women who are shaping the future of engineering, science and technology through their work in making technology part of a global society.
Blue was also the first recipient of Michael D. Branch Modern Day Technology Leadership Award, a recently created award named in honor of an engineer who initiated a number of diversity programs and led many of Storage Technology Corp.’s community outreach activities.

“There are some brilliant minds at JSC, and I am absolutely thrilled to have this moment of recognition,” Blue said. “It is my desire to first make myself proud, then to make NASA proud.”