Marco Midon Black History Month

Narration:

Transcript:

(Music) (Click noise of opening cane) The thing that made a difference between me being, let’s say like a physicist or a scientist is probably the idea that as a visually impaired person I have to solve problems all the time. My background is electrical engineering with an emphasis on radio frequency and that interest goes back to when, you know, I’ve been fascinated with radio ever since I was a little child and got the ham radio license at eleven. So, I’ve been doing similar things for this for a long time. I oversee the design and implementation of the ground stations for SDO and LRO, mostly in the area of RF radio frequencies. So that’s the antennas, the receivers, the transmitters, all that’s involved in that. My father, that really was the beginning with him, he told us we could do anything we want and to not settle for second best. Working for NASA has really been a fantastic experience. I’ve gotten to travel all over the world. I went to Greece last year to help out the Russians when they requested for us to do the Soyuz. I got to go to Antarctica to work on an antenna. So, it’s been an adventure. I’ve gotten to do what I love to do and travel all over the world and have a lot of fun doing it. Mentoring, I’ve done some with the National Federation for the Blind, the Rocket On Program, the Maryland Business Round Table. I guess my advice would be to anyone out there that they can do what they want. They have to be persistent, you know look for help, you know look for people that care about your future. Work hard. Get a good education. That would be my advice and the opportunities are out there. Yet, there are obstacles, difficulties, but they can be overcome.