NASA's Dr. Christyl Johnson Shares Her Career Path And Advice For Advancing Women In STEM

Future Self Series, Dr. Johnson recalls that her parents told her, "If that's what you want to be, you know you could do it. You just have to put your mind to it and, once you decide, you have to make it happen." Their encouragement helped Dr. Johnson realize a motto that has guided her career: "If it's to be, it's up to me. I have to make this so." As an undergraduate at Lincoln University, Dr. Johnson was accepted into the school's Lincoln Aerospace Engineering Recruitment Program where she was introduced to physics. Dr. Johnson went on to receive her bachelor's degree in physics from Lincoln University, a master's degree in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in systems engineering from George Washington University. Dr. Johnson is now deputy director for technology and research investments at National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center where she is responsible for managing the center's research and development portfolio, formulating the center's technology goals and leading investment programs that meet those goals. Dr. Johnson is also dedicated to inspiring women and girls to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), a topic she mentioned when she was interviewed for the Advancing Women in STEM session at the 2017 United Nations Women Global Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Industry Forum in New York City. I met with Dr. Johnson before her session to discuss her career path and advice.

Robert Schwentker

Dr. Christyl Johnson, deputy director for technology and research investments at the Goddard Space Flight Center at NASA, speaking at the United Nations Women Global Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Industry Forum.

Elana Lyn Gross: What are your responsibilities as deputy director for technology and research investments at NASA?

Dr. Johnson: I'm responsible for charting the path for the future for our center. That means deciding what kind of science missions we are going to conduct in astrophysics, earth science, planetary science and heliophysics, and then developing an integrated investment plan to make sure we have the right technology in place to enable those future missions.

Gross: What are the most important characteristics someone needs to be successful in your role?

Dr. Johnson: You definitely have to have confidence in who you are and the ability to project your confidence – and they are two separate things. You have to know yourself and the unique value that you bring to the table, and don’t let anyone change that. There will be people who will not support you, and may even try to undermine you, but you have to stand firm in the fact that you deserve to be where you are. That's where the confidence comes in. If you don’t have confidence in your ability, it will be hard for anyone else to have confidence in you. Be firm in who you are and then be able to project that confidence, and you will be able to stand any situation that comes your way. That is really important.

Gross: What's the biggest lesson you've learned at work and how did you learn it?

Dr. Johnson: Women bring to the table an amazing, unique perspective that should absolutely be celebrated. I learned that when I was a manager for a team. We were about ready to fly an instrument on an aircraft, but we had a really big problem and I had to pull a tiger team together to figure how to address this line-locking issue.

We had a chief engineer who was a senior level person in our organization. He was a white male with a really strong and bold personality. He would walk into the laboratory and tell the engineers that were under me, "You need to try this. Tweak this over here. Make this adjustment." I said, "You can't just walk in and do that." When you have a problem and you don’t know what’s causing that problem, you need to be methodical about what you change so that you can pinpoint exactly what caused the problem and exactly what needs to be done to fix it. His response was, "I can do whatever I want to do. I'm the chief engineer." I thought to myself, "Okay. I'm not going to sit here and argue with this guy because I'm a low-level engineer in the organization. I’ll take this to my supervisor to see how he wants to handle it."

After talking to my supervisor, he decided to bring all the division management team members together to have a conversation with him. He started by saying, "We are on the line here as a center. If we don't get this thing delivered on time, we're in trouble. You can’t interrupt the team while they are trying to fix this." The chief engineer said "I can do whatever I want. Even the division director can't tell me what to do because I'm the chief engineer, and what I say goes."

When Dr. Christyl Johnson was a child, she watched the Apollo 11 moon landing and decided she wanted to be an astronaut one day. In an interview with Future Self Series, Dr. Johnson recalls that her parents told her, "If that's what you want to be, you know you could do it. You just have to put your mind to it and, once you decide, you have to make it happen." Their encouragement helped Dr. Johnson realize a motto that has guided her career: "If it's to be, it's up to me. I have to make this so." As an undergraduate at Lincoln University, Dr. Johnson was accepted into the school's Lincoln Aerospace Engineering Recruitment Program where she was introduced to physics. Dr. Johnson went on to receive her bachelor's degree in physics from Lincoln University, a master's degree in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in systems engineering from George Washington University. Dr. Johnson is now deputy director for technology and research investments at National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center where she is responsible for managing the center's research and development portfolio, formulating the center's technology goals and leading investment programs that meet those goals. Dr. Johnson is also dedicated to inspiring women and girls to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), a topic she mentioned when she was interviewed for the Advancing Women in STEM session at the 2017 United Nations Women Global Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Industry Forum in New York City. I met with Dr. Johnson before her session to discuss her career path and advice.

Robert Schwentker

Elana Lyn Gross: What are your responsibilities as deputy director for technology and research investments at NASA?

Gross: What are the most important characteristics someone needs to be successful in your role?

Dr. Johnson: You definitely have to have confidence in who you are and the ability to project your confidence – and they are two separate things. You have to know yourself and the unique value that you bring to the table, and don’t let anyone change that. There will be people who will not support you, and may even try to undermine you, but you have to stand firm in the fact that you deserve to be where you are. That's where the confidence comes in. If you don’t have confidence in your ability, it will be hard for anyone else to have confidence in you. Be firm in who you are and then be able to project that confidence, and you will be able to stand any situation that comes your way. That is really important.