Ellen Ochoa (born May 10, 1958) is an American engineer, former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center.

Her paternal grandparents emigrated from Sonora, Mexico, to Arizona and later to California where her father was born.

[7] Ochoa received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from San Diego State University[8][9] and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1980, before earning a Master of Science degree and a doctorate from Stanford Department of Electrical Engineering in 1981 and 1985, respectively.

[1] At Sandia National Laboratories, she applied what she knew about optics to the research being done on nuclear weapons.

[11][12][13] Ochoa was enticed by optical systems and committed to improving its applications for performing information processing.

NASA later recognized her methods in optics could be used in fabricating such as inspecting for flaws, or it might be used on a space vehicle such as the Rover.

Ochoa has presented numerous papers at technical conferences and in scientific She was selected as part of the 1990 class of astronauts.

[23] Ochoa is a classical flutist and played with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, once receiving the Student Soloist Award.

Ochoa returned the flag to the school when she visited as a special guest at the 2002 dedication and it remains on permanent display.

[1] Ochoa and Michael Foale were announced as the 2017 class of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame.

[31] Ochoa was recognized in Hispanic Executive's 2017 Best of the Boardroom[32] issue for her work as a board director for Johnson Space Center.