Growing a network of role models
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory loomed large for Marlyse Reeves from an early age. Growing up in Pasadena, California, in JPL’s backyard, Reeves developed a love of all things outer space, and the lab was a regular destination for school field trips. Even as a child, Reeves, now an MIT senior, knew she wanted to work in the space industry: “I realized that the engineers at JPL really enable astrophysicists to make their discoveries, so that was what I wanted to be a part of, expanding that knowledge.” Her love of space was nurtured at home, too. “My dad had a telescope when we were growing up. I loved science fiction books and movies. I was a big space nerd,” she says. At MIT, Reeves quickly found her niche in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where a flexible track within the major allowed her to concentrate on studying autonomous systems. “I ended...