Avenger of the Week | Josephine Santiago-Bond

Growing up in the Philippines, Josephine Santiago-Bond was drawn to her parents’ careers in science, but she never thought about NASA’s civilian space program until she took a job at a NASA-funded research project to help pay for her graduate school tuition. Today, she heads the Advanced Engineering Development branch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, a team of interdisciplinary engineers.

Santiago-Bond attended the selective, residential Philippines Science High School at 12 and studied engineering and communications at University of the Philippines, and she expected to enter the fast-growing telecommunications field. When she graduated in 2001, she moved with her family to South Dakota and enrolled in graduate school at the University of South Dakota, but when her part-time job at the NASA-funded project led to a summer internship at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, her original career plan changed.

“I fell in love with the surroundings at KSC. The weather, the palm trees and the beach were reminiscent of my younger years in the Philippines.” said Santiago-Bond. “I fell in love with the passion of the people that I briefly worked with, and the exciting mission of the agency.”

She was hired after graduation and has risen through the NASA ranks. While participating in a year-long NASA development program, she says she learned early in her career to be aware of one’s capabilities and potential, something she always encourages in her team. Santiago-Bond finds her work exciting and enjoys the collaborative process. She has worked on Moon and Mars missions, and, as an example, her division created the electrodynamic dust shield designed to mitigate human and robotic dust problems in space as part of that work.

“I have experienced first-hand how an impressionable child can grow to love science and engineering by simply being exposed to it,” said Santiago-Bond, a firm believer in mentoring who is active in the Kennedy Space Center’s Asian Pacific American Connection (APAC).

For her accomplishments at NASA and for being a role model to women interested in engineering and the NASA’s space program, Josephine Santiago-Bond is GenderAvenger’s Avenger of the Week.

The @GenderAvenger #AvengerOfTheWeek is the inspiring engineer and role model @jobeesantiago, who heads the @NASAKennedy Advanced Engineering Development branch. #AAPI #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/avenger-of-the-week-josephine-santiago-bond