For Ellyne Kinney, her curiosity and drive to have a successful career started early, and you'll hear all about it in this interview with Best of the WWEST host Danniele. She relives her time working on big deal astronomy projects (Hubble Space Telescope and Goddard Space Flight Center to name-drop just a couple), tells us about her fascination with space, and gives advice on how to be successful both in post-secondary school and in STEM careers.  

Guest: Ellyne Kinney

Ellyne Kinney is a senior solutions engineer of Earth Observations Systems at MDA. Ellyne joined MDA in May 2018 and develops the technical solutions for software systems and space missions for MDA’s customers in Earth Observation and Space Missions Line of Business. She started her career on the Hubble Space Telescope project as a Data Analyst, where she participated in 3 Hubble Servicing missions. After 10 years on the Hubble project, she transferred to a role as a Software Engineer for Goddard Space Flight Center's Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). In 2006, she left NASA to join Intelsat as the Principal Engineer and Software Lead for the Flight Dynamics team. In 2014, she joined the OSIRIS-Rex mission as an Imaging Scientist, participating in pre-flight calibration of the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) and leading the development of its data processing chain. She then joined Google/Terra Bella in 2015 as the Payload Commissioning Lead for the Skysat Constellation.

Ellyne also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Astrophysics from Mount Holyoke College.

For a full transcription of this episode, click here.

Relevant Links:

• Five College Consortium, Massachusetts, USA
  
• Goddard Space Flight Center
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Intelsat
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (book)
• MDA
• Mount Holyoke College
  
• OSIRIS-REx - Asteroid Sample Return Mission
• Terra Bella
  
• What Works For Women at Work (book)
  

Hosted by: Danniele Livengood (@livengood)
Theme Music: “Positive and Fun” by Scott Holmes
Produced by: Vanessa Reich-Shackelford