August 9 marks the 110th birthday of Mary G. Ross, the first Native American woman engineer who <br />made many contributions to the aerospace industry. Ross was born and raised <br />with Cherokee values in the <br />small town of Park Hill in Oklahoma. She received a degree in math from Northeastern State College, which was nontraditional for women at the time. After receiving her degree, Ross taught <br />for awhile until returning to school to earn her master's in math from Colorado State College of Education. In 1942, Ross was hired as a mathematician for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. Her talents were quickly realized, <br />and she was sent to UCLA to earn <br />classification in aeronautical engineering. She was then rehired by Lockheed <br />as their first female engineer. Some of her contributions include work on the Agena rocket, which was crucial to the Apollo program, and design concepts for SkunkWorks' plans of interplanetary <br />space travel. Ross encouraged other women and <br />Native Americans to pursue STEM fields <br />by establishing a scholarship in her name <br />for female engineers and technologists. She also worked closely with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, as well as the Council of Energy Resource Tribes.
