Women In Aerospace Engineering: Tiera Guinn-fletcher

Amdist the push for driving more women towards the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), we may forget that there still are many remarkable female talents of the past and present in this industry. Technology and various advancements continue to drive talent further, overcoming any bias and pre-conceived notions about the field. During our studies, books and scholarly materials featured various notable STEM scientists that made discoveries which revolutionized history. Among many scientists and researchers, we were taught about including Marie Curie, a Nobel Prize scientist who pioneered research on radioactivity in 1903. Jane Goodall in 1960 set out to Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees, and is now the most famous primate scientist in history. Rosalind Franklin, born in 1920, was a biophysicist known for discovering DNA and understanding X-rays and molecular structure. Vera Rubin was awarded a National Medal of Science in 1993 for proving that dark matter in the universe existed. However, majority of these discoveries were most notable during the period of the 1900s. Focusing on present famous, top, female scientists who have changed the world also motivates the future generation of women scientists to lead in the same way and to believe that it is possible.

Tiera Guinn-Fletcher defies all bias in the field of STEM. She is part of the minority, but has excelled in almost every way –“a triple minority” in her own words. She is a young, “African American” woman, but she is most known as one of the Best Young Scientists. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017, and is now currently 24 years old. She is working as a structural engineer for Boeing in New Orleans. In Tiera’s course of work, she has already risen to the rank of structural rocket design and analytical engineer for a space system working in collaboration with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). She plays a key role in designing an engine that powers an 188,000 pound, 322-foot-tall rocket that will, one day, send astronauts and civilians to the Moon and to Mars.

One can say that Tiera Guinn-Fletcher’s experience is not the norm. Not only have minorities such as herself been underrepresented in almost all STEM fields, but the act of achieving the transition from academics to real-life work is a feat that not many have been able to overcome. As studied by UNESCO in their report entitled, “Cracking the code: Girl’s and women’s education in STEM,” globally, only 35% of STEM students are women. This study also showed that among all STEM courses, the least number of women enrolled in specific fields such as information and communications technology (ICT) at only 3% and natural science, mathematics, and statistics at 5%. 8% enrolled in engineering, manufacturing, and construction, and the enrollment of women among all STEM fields included health and welfare studies at 15%.

Born as Tiera Guinn in the Altanta area in Georgia where she grew up. She developed a love for math and science because of her parents; her mother was an accountant, and her father was a construction worker. They both encouraged her to measure and calculate anything and everything in day-to-day activities, from calculating the grocery bill, to checking for discounts and even learning about applications of architecture. This paved the way for Tiera’s interests, and helped her in pursuing Aerospace Engineering, while attending Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia. Tiera joined several programs in her senior year in High School including an aerospace program by Lockheed Martin Company, an internship at NASA, and a research internship at the Georgia Institute of Technology. From there, she went on to pursue the STEM field of aerospace engineering in college at MIT where she graduated with a 5.0 GPA.

During her early years in college, she participated in mentorship programs to help other MIT students and develop her capabilities, and an undergraduate research study design optimization of aircrafts. During the latter half of her college years, Tiera went on internship with Boeing to help design, test, and collaborate with professionals on Boeing products. She was then offered a job at Boeing where she now currently works as a Boeing structural analysis engineer helping to build a Space Launch System, which aims to put humans on Mars. This would be the fastest and largest rocket ever created. She is the youngest of the team working on the exploratory area of the rocket, which helps the spacecraft complete its ascent. All while doing this work, Tiera has already received numerous awards: 2017 Good Housekeeping’s Awesome Woman Award for being a woman who impacts the world by overcoming social constraints, 2017 Albert G. Hill prize for excelling academically and improving campus climate for minorities, and the 2018 Most Promising Engineer at the 2019 Black Engineer of the Year Awards event. A 2015 study by the National Science Board found that women are only 9% of the workforce of mechanical engineers, and are only about 10-13% of the workforce for electrical, computer hardware engineers, and of aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineers. Examples of minorities (“triple minorities”) like Tiera Guinn-Fletcher must be recognized as doable, given a global push for equal opportunities. Of course, a factor there also includes the individual choice to do hard work and persevere amidst the inevitable challenges that society brings.