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Helen Ling, seen here in a photo from Feb. 16, 1973, was influential in the inclusion of women in STEM positions at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After majoring in Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame\u2014the only woman to do so at the time\u2014Ling joined her brother in working at JPL. She became a supervisor for the computing group in the 1960s, a team who was responsible for performing trajectory calculations.<\/p>\n
Ling encouraged women within the computing group to attend night school to earn degrees that would allow them more professional opportunities within JPL. A pioneer for women\u2019s rights in the workplace, Helen Ling was so admired in the computing group that those who worked under her lovingly referred to themselves as \u201cHelen\u2019s girls.\u201d Many of \u201cHelen\u2019s girls\u201d went on to become computer scientists and engineers within JPL thanks to the mentorship and guidance of Helen Ling.<\/p>\n
Throughout her time at JPL, Ling developed software for the IRAS, Magellan, TOPEX\/Poseidon, and Mars Observer missions, and retired in 1994.<\/p>\n