{{Short description|American mechanical engineer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Aaron Yazzie | image = Aaron Yazzie.jpg | caption = Aaron Yazzie in 2019 | signature = | citizenship = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1986}} | birth_place = Tuba City, Arizona | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} --> | education = Stanford University | spouse = | parents = | children = | website = https://www.aaronyazzie.com | module = {{infobox engineering career | discipline = Mechanical engineering | employer = Jet Propulsion Laboratory | significant_projects = Mars Science Laboratory <br /> InSight <br /> Mars 2020 | significant_design = | significant_advance = | significant_awards = }} }} '''Aaron Yazzie''' (born 1986) is a Diné (Navajo) mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His work involves planetary sample acquisition and handling. He has worked on the Mars Science Laboratory, InSight, and Mars 2020 missions.
==Early life and education== Yazzie is {{spell-nv|Ashįįhí}} (Salt Clan) and born for {{spell-nv|Todích'íi'nii}} (Bitter Water Clan).<ref name="aaronyazzie.com">{{cite web |title=About |url=https://www.aaronyazzie.com/about |website=Aaron Yazzie |access-date=May 22, 2020}}</ref> He was born in 1986<ref name="PM">{{cite news |last1=Leman |first1=Jennifer |title=7 Indigenous Pioneers You Need to Know |url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/g29460020/indigenous-scientists/?slide=5 |access-date=May 22, 2020 |work=Popular Mechanics |date=October 14, 2019}}</ref> in Tuba City, Arizona, part of the Navajo Nation, and raised in Holbrook, Arizona, where his father was a civil engineer and his mother was a math teacher.<ref name="NBM">{{cite news |title=NASA Mechanical Engineer Aaron Yazzie Discusses His Work on Mars |url=https://www.nativebusinessmag.com/nasa-mechanical-engineer-aaron-yazzie-discusses-his-work-on-mars/ |access-date=May 22, 2020 |work=Native Business Magazine |date=March 26, 2019}}</ref>
Yazzie had originally planned on attending a public university in Arizona, but he decided to apply to Stanford University after meeting an admissions counselor at a pre-college summer program for Native Americans.<ref name="NAC" /> While at Stanford, he interned at two NASA research centers: the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Glenn Research Center.<ref name="NAC" /> He graduated from Stanford in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.<ref name="aaronyazzie.com" /><ref name="NBM" />
==Jet Propulsion Laboratory career== thumb|right|Photograph of the Painted Desert landscape on the Navajo Nation Yazzie joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 2008.<ref name="NBM" /> At JPL, he is a mechanical engineer working on planetary sample acquisition and handling.<ref name="PM" /><ref name="NASA">{{cite web |title=Native Americans of NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/edu_native_americans.poster.pdf |website=NASA |access-date=May 23, 2020 |date=September 2019}}</ref> He has worked on the Mars Science Laboratory, InSight, and Mars 2020 missions.<ref name="PM" />
Since joining JPL, Yazzie has been involved in recruiting other Native Americans to work at NASA.<ref name="NBM" />
Yazzie has said that the surface of Mars reminds him of the landscape near his Tuba City birthplace.<ref name="NBM" /><ref name="NHO">{{cite news |last1=Bennett-Begaye |first1=Jourdan |title=Navajo mechanical engineer Aaron Yazzie contributes to Mars landing |url=https://www.nhonews.com/news/2018/dec/04/navajo-mechanical-engineer-aaron-yazzie-contribute/ |access-date=May 23, 2020 |work=Navajo-Hopi Observer |date=December 4, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Wollan |first1=Maria |title=How to Imagine an Unfamiliar Place |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/magazine/how-to-imagine-an-unfamiliar-place.html |access-date=26 July 2021 |work=The New York Times Magazine |date=20 April 2021}}</ref>
==Personal life== Yazzie's parents were both first generation college students and he credits them with encouraging him to get a college education.<ref name="NBM" /><ref name="NAC">{{cite web |title=Native in the Spotlight: Aaron Yazzie |url=https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/friday-january-11-2019-native-in-the-spotlight-aaron-yazzie/ |website=Native America Calling |access-date=May 23, 2020 |date=January 11, 2019}}</ref> He is actively involved in outreach to Native students and attributes success in his career to the work ethic instilled in him by his Navajo upbringing.<ref name="AIR" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Mechanical Engineer Aaron Yazzie |url=https://www.nasa.gov/faces-of-nasa/aaron-yazzie |publisher=NASA |access-date=18 January 2022 |date=30 November 2021}}</ref>
Yazzie has had a long involvement with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). He was an AISES college scholarship recipient, as well as the president of the Stanford chapter.<ref name="NBM" /><ref name="AIR">{{cite news |last1=Hanson |first1=Christy |title=A STEM Conversation with a NASA JPL Mechanical Engineer |url=https://americanindianrepublic.com/a-stem-conversation-with-a-nasa-jpl-mechanical-engineer/ |access-date=May 22, 2020 |work=American Indian Republic |date=January 29, 2018}}</ref> Since graduating, he has become an AISES Sequoyah Fellow (lifetime member).<ref name="aaronyazzie.com" /> Yazzie was featured in the book ''Notable Native People'' by Adrienne Keene.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keene|first=Adrienne|title=Notable native people : 50 indigenous leaders, dreamers, and changemakers from past and present|date=2021|isbn=978-1-9848-5794-1|edition=First|publisher=Ten Speed Press|location=California|oclc=1230460916}}</ref>
He currently lives in Pasadena, California.<ref name="NAC" />
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== * [https://www.aaronyazzie.com/ Official website] * [https://twitter.com/YazzieSays Aaron Yazzie] on Twitter * [http://www.nativesinstem.org/sites/default/files/AYazzie.pdf Aaron Yazzie poster] from [http://www.nativesinstem.org/ Natives in STEM] * [https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/edu_native_americans.poster.pdf Native Americans of NASA]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yazzie, Aaron}} Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American engineers Category:American aerospace engineers Category:American mechanical engineers Category:Engineers from Arizona Category:Jet Propulsion Laboratory Category:NASA people Category:Navajo scientists Category:21st-century Native American scientists Category:People from Holbrook, Arizona Category:People from Tuba City, Arizona Category:Stanford University School of Engineering alumni Category:American planetary scientists Category:Navajo born for the Bitter Water Clan Category:Native American people from Arizona