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Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ Alumna Reaches for the Stars

A career change reignited Robin Pertz's love of space and landed her a role at NASA

Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ University alumna Robin Pertz dreamed of one day being an astronaut. She applied to the NASA astronaut candidate program four times … and was rejected four times. Yet, her persistence and genuine passion for science and the stars still eventually landed her a job at the organization. 

Robin Pertz works in the library at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
Photo Credit: Ygal Kaufman, Ideastream Public Media

Earlier this month, Ideastream Public Media in her job at the John H. Glenn Research Center, also known as NASA Glenn, in Cleveland. Pertz had dreams of working for NASA from the time she was in grade school, but didn’t think it was in the stars for her. So, she instead chose a career in teaching. As she shared with Ideastream, after a few years, she wasn’t feeling fulfilled in teaching and decided to pursue a Master of Information and Library Science at Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ and completed her degree in 2013.

It was an assignment during one of her classes at Á½ÐÔÉ«ÎçÒ¹ that reignited her love for space and eventually led to her getting the job at NASA.

“I was in the right place at the right time and landed a job as the librarian. Now I’ve been here for 11-plus years, and it’s been absolutely incredible," Pertz told Ideastream.

Top Banner Photo Credit: Ygal Kaufman, Ideastream Public Media

POSTED: Wednesday, August 28, 2024 01:22 PM
Updated: Wednesday, August 28, 2024 01:56 PM