Mary Beth Friga Wusk ’88

In her 35-year (and counting) career at NASA, Mary Beth Friga Wusk has accumulated seemingly endless list of accomplishments. To name a few: chief engineer at the

NASA Engineering and Safety Center's Langley Research Center; program and project manager for multiple projects addressing NASA's complex technology development projects on aircraft, suborbital launch vehicles, low earth orbit satellites and platforms targeting the moon and beyond; creator of the BIG Idea Challenge, an annual engineering design competition for college students; and inventor of the patented Lightweight Flexible Thermal Protection System for Fire Protection, a technology designed to help save the lives of forest firefighters.

She's gone a long way, but she's never forgotten Longwood's role in her journey. As an undergraduate, Wusk enrolled in Longwood's Dual-Degree Engineering program, completing a three-year degree in physics, followed by two years at Old Dominion University to earn a degree in electrical and electronics engineering. She was one of two women in the program at Longwood.

She began her career at NASA working on the hangar floor as a flight instrumentation engineer in the same building where the iconic Katherine Johnson, a human computer during the Apollo era, once worked. "I understand the critical importance of diversity and inclusion," she said.

"I find great purpose in inspiring and equipping the next generation. Whether on the hangar floor or in the conference room, we all benefit from having people with diverse perspectives to tackle the technical challenges we face." Even with all her professional accomplishments, she said, "I'd like to be remembered as someone who dedicated her efforts to helping students in STEM achieve success."