NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that it will rename its Washington D.C. headquarters after Mary W. Jackson, the first African American female engineer at NASA. Jackson, who was portrayed by Janelle Monáe in the box office hit “Hidden Figures,” started her career in the West Area Computing Unit of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. As a mathematician and aerospace engineer, Jackson authored and/or co-authored several research reports centered around the behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes. She also advocated for the hiring and promotion of the next generation of female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. “Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space. Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology,” said Bridenstine, according to a NASA...

We are living at the crossroads of the future, where automation , Artificial Intelligence, and code are being used heavily. Although the use of technology is increasing, it is neither new nor the first time workers have had to deal with the possible threat of being replaced by machines. In the film, Hidden Figures , NASA transitions from human computers to machine computers. Mathematicians, Katherine Johnson , Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson broke down gender and racial walls while learning how to operate the machines that had the potential to replace them. Today, we see more and more companies moving toward automation to cut costs and drive profits. ‌Technical innovations come at a rapid pace, but once these innovations are on the market, these machines and computers will need someone with the technical skills to keep production running. This is our opportunity as Blacks in America. Since we have not transitioned to a world of total automation, we have an opportunity to get the...