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Careers at NASA were not on his radar growing up. But Jonas Dino, public engagement specialist at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley, ended up with his perfect job that involves connecting people with NASA.<\/p>\n
One of the best parts of his job is to learn first-hand about NASA\u2019s cutting-edge research and translate these concepts to the next generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited about what NASA does and where we are going,\u201d said Dino, \u201cAs an extrovert, I love interacting with the public, especially little kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
When speaking to younger children, Dino often kneels, to get to their level. With the future of aeronautics and space exploration in mind, he has a message for them: \u2018NASA needs you.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey love space and think it is very cool, but many don\u2019t think they could ever work at NASA,\u201d said Dino. \u201cI want to help them see: anything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
A first-generation immigrant from the Philippines, Dino\u2019s academic start focused on studying life sciences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a Filipino, you\u2019re encouraged to go into the medical field as a career,\u201d said Dino.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After joining the Marine Corps, Reserve, he returned home to study biology at San Jose State University (SJSU). After doing poorly at organic chemistry, he took his next \u201clogical\u201d step and switched his major to nursing. After working in the field, he realized that was not for him either. Luckily, he had been taking psychology classes, following his interests, and could graduate with a psychology degree by only taking two more classes.<\/p>\n
After three changes in major and just getting ready to graduate, Dino was hit by a car. His injury and subsequent recovery gave him time to evaluate what he wanted to do with his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pretty good at talking to people and teaching,\u201d said Dino. \u201cMaybe I could to that as a job?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dino started his teaching career at James Logan \u2013 the same high school he graduated from in 1985. He eventually ran for and was elected as a trustee for the New Haven Unified School District in the San Francisco Bay Area. Unfortunately, to take that seat, he could not be a teacher in the district \u2013 a conflict of interest. Suddenly needing a job, he found the internship book at SJSU where he was getting his master\u2019s degree. Soon, he was evaluating opportunities: a high-tech company or NASA?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was during the dotcom boom and my family strongly encouraged me to take the high-tech internship,\u201d said Dino. \u201cI took the internship at NASA Ames and have never regretted my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working as a communicator, Dino has covered the gamut of NASA projects from aeronautics to space missions, including a lunar mission,\u00a0LCROSS, that helped confirm the presence of water on the Moon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His favorite part of his job is STEM engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is nothing like seeing a kid\u2019s eyes get larger, or that proverbial light-bulb-turn-on-above-their-heads when you teach them something new,\u201d said Dino. \u201cWhen you see kids are hungry for science, you need to feed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did serve his community on the school board for four terms \u2013 16 years. Now, he serves as an advocate for the NASA Ames workforce as president of the Ames Federal Employees Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cNASA is a great place to work, it has been a blast, for nearly 24 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
A little push in the right direction, even incidental, can have a huge effect on your trajectory \u2013 and thus where you end up \u2013 if it happens early on. This is true both for rogue rocks, on the loose in the solar system, and for people too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a kid, I took apart everything because I wanted to know what\u2019s inside and how everything worked,\u201d said Dino. \u201cLooking back, I should have been an engineer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have two children, a son and a daughter,\u201d said Dino. \u201cI\u2019m encouraging my daughter to go into STEM; we need more young women in STEM careers but too many girls are pushed away from this choice by the time they are in middle school.\u00a0I also want to encourage Filipino kids to make their own career choices and maybe even to come work for NASA.\u201d<\/p>\n
To help pursue these goals, Dino started a memorial scholarship in honor of his father for Filipino students going into STEM fields. He handed out the inaugural scholarship for this last May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jonas Dino<\/p>\n
Public engagement specialist, president of the Ames Federal Employees Union<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
NASA never stops for Dino. Whether at work or on his free time, he\u2019s always talking about NASA. While dishing out samples of his Filipino adobo recipe during a recent adobo-cooking contest \u2013 according to Dino, every Filipino family has their own recipe for this dish \u2013 he also handed out NASA knowledge. He won second place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n