Thank You, Teachers!

"The biggest shoutout to Mr. Brett Williams! He went against the status quo, inventing curriculum around building and launching rockets, and inspired us to never stop asking questions. Thank you, Brett!"

JPL systems engineer Bekah Sosland Siegfriedt builds, tests and operates Mars rovers

May 6, 2019 | 11:27 p.m

"I want to thank Todd Albrecht, my high school show-choir teacher, for teaching me to find the joy in every situation. He taught me so much about confidence and cooperation. Thank you, Mr. A!"

JPL mechatronics engineer Jeffrey Carlson is helping build and test the next Mars rover

May 6, 2019 | 5:23 p.m

"Thank you to Mrs. Jenning and Mr. Zeoli for making me a better writer and teaching me how to use words to communicate effectively and share ideas. Thank you to Mr. Lewis for teaching me the fundamental principles of physics and how they apply to the world every day. Your discussions of these applications was inspiring and contributed largely to making me want to pursue science to make an impact. Thank you also to Mrs. Shales-Clark for being a phenomenal and challenging chemistry teacher and for encouraging me to keep trying harder. You taught me critical problem-solving skills that carried on throughout my college years and now at work. I am very grateful to all of you and all of my current and past teachers/mentors."

JPL computer scientist Jagriti Agrawal is working on the next Mars rover mission

May 6, 2019 | 5:20 p.m

"Professor Tolstova has been such a great inspiration for how to love what you do. She constantly pushes all her students to be the best and helps them get there."

JPL intern Christopher S Esquer-Rosas designs and builds large-scale origami deployables

May 3, 2019 | 11:14 p.m

"Thank you to my sixth-form maths teacher, Mr. Parry, who saw my potential and pushed me to learn beyond the bounds of the curriculum to make sure that I would be prepared for university."

JPL systems engineer Farah Alibay works on all aspects of space missions

May 3, 2019 | 9:48 p.m

"Mr. Goldberg, thank you for showing me that history and government have a major impact in our daily lives. You taught us that our opinions mattered and we should be active in the political process."

Marlon Hernandez is making sure the Europa Clipper mission properly documents its path to launch

May 3, 2019 | 9:45 p.m

"Chris Wood, my chemistry teacher when I was 16, encouraged a deep love for practical science, experimentation and, above all, fun."

JPL instrument operations engineer Doug Ellison uses the Curiosity rover to take pictures on Mars

May 3, 2019 | 9:35 p.m

"My physics professor Dr. Rupright cultivated a love of physics in me, so much so that I kept taking physics classes (even though I was majoring in chemistry) and ended up with a minor in physics!"

JPL research scientist and astrobiologist Morgan Cable is searching for life on ocean worlds

May 3, 2019 | 9:32 p.m

"I spent almost all my childhood on the island of Guam. The teachers in the Guam public school system played a critical role in my STEM education. Thank you especially to math teachers Mr. Frank Blas and Mr. Gaynell Marsh for giving me the basic tools I needed to study physics and, later, join the amazing team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory."

Systems engineer Leo Cheng (pictured far right) operates spacecraft for JPL

May 3, 2019 | 9:27 p.m