Jenny Gruber has wanted to be an astronaut since she was seven. Growing up amid meager surroundings in Omaha, Neb., she beat all the odds to join the ranks of those who led the way into space.
Dr. Gruber, a Rhodes scholar and NASA aerospace engineer, is working towards achieving her dream of being an astronaut and dream about traveling to Mars. She works in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), Automated Vehicles, and Orbit Analysis Group in Houston. She coordinates NASA mission operations for Japanese resupply missions to the International Space Station, which began in 2008. She also serves as liaison and coordinates operations between JSC and the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
Dr. Gruber is a graduate of Omaha Central High School, a scholarship recipient, and a graduate of BU’s accelerated four-year bachelor’s/master’s program in Aerospace Engineering.
In her junior year, Gruber had to alternate between semesters of a full-time student and a co-op at NASA JSC with the Flight Design and Dynamics Division. During her co-op, she helped develop software tools that automate maneuver confirmation procedures for flight dynamics officers, flight controllers responsible for monitoring vehicle performance and trajectory during Space Shuttle flights.
Gruber received the Rhodes scholarship in 1999, selected out of more than 600 applicants. She received her doctorate in engineering science in 2002 for the researched ion propulsion.
When not working or dreaming about traveling to Mars, Gruber enjoys reading and listening to music and keeps in top physical form by playing soccer, weight lifting, rock-climbing, and running.
She attributes her rise, from a poor kid to an aspiring astronaut, to hard work, to a loving family who encouraged her and the inspiration of human space exploration. Continuing humanity’s legacy in space is “difficult and risky,” she said. “That’s what makes it so inspirational.”