STEM Superheroes: Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse

Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse has been working full time for NASA for two decades.  Starting as a materials engineer, she was recently appointed to be the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Materials and Process Laboratory.  Ms. Laughinghouse was recently featured in the Faces of NASA series, where she spoke about some challenges that she faced in her educational journey.

Speaking to interviewer Tahira Allen, Ms. Laughinghouse said, "When I transitioned from Spelman to Georgia Tech, it was probably the first time in my life that I had a professor that made me question if I belonged or had what it takes...I was struggling with imposter syndrome before I knew what that was, wondering, 'Have I just been in some dream world up until now?  Am I not as smart as I thought I was?'...I really struggled through that and did not pass that class--the first time I had ever not passed a class--and this was supposed to be my major!

"Sometimes you look around and wonder why you don't see a lot of [people of color] in some positions, and it's probably because of situations like this where we have such high standards but feel we cannot meet them.  We don't give ourselves grace.  We assume, 'This obviously isn't for me.'"

Ms. Laughinghouse learned from this experience and didn't give up.  She took the class again the next semester with a new determination and passed with an A.

Read the rest of Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse's interview for Faces of NASA here.

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