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I am Markeeva Morgan. I am the 
Avionics Hardware Manager for

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Space Launch System Core Stage 
and the Flight Termination Systems

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Integration Lead for all stages for 
Space Launch System.

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I grew up in rural Mississippi, you 
know, parts of the state where

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you are not from places, you are 
from close to places. I graduated

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from Coldwater High School in 
Coldwater, Mississippi. I went on

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to the University of Mississippi 
where I earned a Bachelor of

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Science degree in Electrical 
Engineering. After graduating,

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I volunteered to join the Navy, 
was commissioned as an officer in

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the US Navy, and was stationed at 
the Washington Navy Yard in

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Washington, DC. My first day on 
the job was September 6, 2001, and

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a few days later, as we all know, 
we were attacked, and so my career

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was put on hyper drive. I was there 
for about six years and then my

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wife and I moved here to Huntsville 
in 2007. While I was in DC, I also

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earned a bachelors degree in 
Engineering Management, and so now

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I am here at NASA. Been here for 
about nine and a half years and am

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thoroughly enjoying it.

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Moving from Mississippi to DC was 
very interesting, especially for

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someone who was not, at the time, 
very well travelled. I can sum it

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up in one story that both being 
from Mississippi got me in trouble

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and out of trouble. So a lot more 
traffic in Washington, DC than in

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the rural roads of Mississippi and 
when we had gone up there in the

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early days of moving up there, we 
were travelling on one of the many

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six, eight lane highways and my exit 
was coming up. And so I learned very

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quickly that when your exit comes, 
you get over otherwise you are going

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to miss it, so I pretty aggressively 
changed lanes and was pursued by a

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police officer. I was given a ticket 
and went to, went to court to address

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the ticket and it turned out my 
vehicle was similar to a vehicle

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that was of interest at the time. 
Coincidentally, that aggressive lane

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change came right after the police 
officer who was sitting in the median,

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so add all of that together and there 
is a story that was fabricated, well,

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I would not say fabricated, but there 
was a story that was created that

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did not turn out to be true. So I am in 
court and not realizing the severity

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of what the situation was, I thought 
it was just a traffic ticket, and so the

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Mississippi to DC got me in trouble. 
But here’s where Mississippi got me

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out of trouble. I told that story to 
the judge. I said, “Hey, I just moved

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here from Mississippi, there are no 
six, eight lane highways in Mississippi,

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and so I was just trying to get to 
my exit,” with a little bit of a more

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of a slow twang and overemphasizing 
the Southern vocal dialect there.

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And he laughed and yeah I believe you 
and that was the end of it. So moving

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from Mississippi to DC, there was a 
lot of it that was different, but

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overwhelmingly, the difference was 
good. Washington, DC and the metro

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area is such a potpourri pot of 
different cultures, and that is

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probably one of the things I miss 
most, you know, the variety of foods

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and people. And what is interesting
is Huntsville is similar to that on

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a smaller scale. One of the things we 
say is most anything you are interested

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in doing you can find here. There may 
only be one of them, but you will probably

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find it. And so, ultimately, that 
experience in Washington, DC was great,

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and if not for divine direction to move 
here, I would still be there. My wife and I

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are both from Mississippi, so eventually 
we probably would have moved south, but

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other than the traffic and the cost of 
real estate, we both thoroughly enjoyed

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our time up there.

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The STEM education experience at the 
University of Mississippi was fairly

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independent of who you were and where 
you came from. Now, if you asked that

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question form the university as a whole, 
you know, what was the experience of a

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Black student at the university, that is
a different question. Now I would say

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that that experience likely is not 
dissimilar to the experience at most

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universities, especially in the South. 
The University of Mississippi, what I

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discovered when I first got there was 
the reality of the University was

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better than the perception of the 
University. It is the case that early

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on my predecessors at the University 
selected pretty much every symbol that

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you could choose to officially represent 
the University that tied to the Old

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South. The heart of the university though 
was no different than the heart of other

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southern universities, it just so happens 
those universities did not choose outward

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expressions of that heart that everybody 
could see whereas Ole Miss did. And so

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the University of Mississippi has been 
and remains in the spotlight as it relates

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to race relations. In many respects, it 
has had to lead the charge in moving

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forward because it is so observed. The 
University is not perfect, it was not when

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I went there, it is not today. Is it better 
than when I went there, yes,

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unquestionably. We all have a lot of work 
to do. This is not a topic that cannot be

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fully encompassed in statistics and 
facts; it is injury and hurt and strategic,

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systemic shifts in the way racism and 
prejudice has manifested itself throughout

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history. One way is replaced by another, 
so it’s more of a complex topic. My

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experience was great, no complaints, 
have a great relationship with the

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university today, volunteer there as 
much as I do in this community, serve on

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a number of boards there. But like I said, 
it is not perfect. If I had the

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opportunity to choose again, I would go 
again. It had as much to do with choosing

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to remain in Mississippi for higher 
education as anything else. I do not regret

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the decision at all. You know, like I said, 
I think most students, most graduates can

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say some of the same things about their 
alma maters. Some of my best friends were

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from there, I met my wife in college, so 
to separate my experience at the University

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of Mississippi from my life now is 
difficult to do. In the end, I will

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reiterate, it is not perfect. We have 
members in our community at the University

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of Mississippi who do not represent the 
values that we as an entire community are

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trying to cultivate, and that is true and 
the University of Mississippi, that is

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true at Alabama and the University of 
Alabama and at Auburn and we could go

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down an entire list of places whose 
history is rooted in a different genre

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than we are trying to create today and 
that there are members of those

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institutional families who would love 
for things to revert back to the way

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things were. Fortunately, at most of 
these universities, the majority and

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majority in power will not allow that to 
happen, I certainly hope not.

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To me the state of STEM education is 
interestingly part of the issue, as I

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see it, is referring to it as STEM 
education in the first place. Now,

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I am in a technical professional, so 
that in no way diminishes the

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importance of trying to encourage 
students to study science, technology,

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engineering, and mathematics related 
curricula and pursue careers in those

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areas. However, part of our issue, 
I believe, is we have created this

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artificial chasm between STEM education 
and all other education pursuits. And

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that chasm is not real. A corollary to 
that, and in association to that, we have

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also not only said that STEM is different 
but that somehow STEM is only accessible

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to the most academically elite of us. 
And, and that characterization of it

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being academically elite or not is 
thrust upon children very, very young,

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so kids are being conditioned to 
believe that STEM is out of reach

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for them before they really even 
understand what STEM is, right. So

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a kindergartener and first grader 
and a second grader, they understand

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what math is because they have math 
class and when they have math class

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at school, it is called math. They 
do not know what engineering is

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necessarily, unless they happen to 
have parents who are engineers,

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etcetera. They do not really know 
what it is, but they know what

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math is and they know what science 
class is because we call it that,

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right. And if it is depending on 
how that interest and excitement

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is cultivated in those students and 
their resulting excitement about

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those topics as they grow older 
and the correlation between science

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and math in first grade starts to 
become evident between these careers

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that we call STEM and they have been 
raised to believe this is hard, I am

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not good at this, I cannot do this. 
It is human nature to enjoy things less

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that you are not good at, except golf. 
That is probably the exception, right?

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So we are raising children who believe 
they cannot pursue STEM education and

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then, therefore they are not interested 
in STEM education, which makes it more

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difficult to convince them to be 
interested. I am a strong believer

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in STEAM education, that we have to 
inject the arts into this conversation.

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There is no difference, right. There is 
this separation between what we call

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STEM and everything else is reckless, 
it is having accidental, I think,

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reckless may be too strong of a word, 
I am being a little dramatic, but this

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separation is counterproductive. And 
one, in my opinion, if you actually are

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going to be a "STEM" professional, we 
need STEM professionals who are

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well-rounded enough to have some 
understanding of the arts and they are

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injecting it into their careers. STEM 
requires creativity, empathy, and teaming,

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and appreciation of, I mean, all of those 
things are required to be a good STEM

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professional as well. If you are pursuing 
a career in the arts, the world is

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increasingly technological, you cannot escape 
it. So to presume that I am going to be a

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professional author, therefore I do not 
need to understand these things that are

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technical is folly because all of your 
tools are technological. One of my

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daughters is extremely interested in 
fashion, and even at her young age, I

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see the seeds of the separation being 
calcified in her brain, so we are working

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really hard to let her know there is no 
difference. When we go to the store to

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choose fabrics, which most would say is 
a purely artistic exercise, we make sure

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to explain to her what thread counts are 
and how they are manufactured and

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understanding the differences between 
qualities of fabrics, and it has a lot

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to do with understanding the supply 
chain all the way back and how they are

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manufactured. When she sits home and 
brings out the sewing machine to sew a

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pillow, this is a very complex piece 
of machinery. And so, to separate

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yourself from your future competition 
by understanding the technological

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side of this artistic enterprise, 
that is a competitive advantage. And

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so, the separation between all of 
these pursuits is counterproductive.

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What does this have to do with STEM 
education? Well, the point is that A,

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you do not have to be a genius to enjoy 
mathematics or to be an engineer, right.

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And you know, there are all sorts of 
examples, Einstein making a C in

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mathematics or whatever the legends 
are. It is an understanding that the

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whole world is art and the whole world 
is science at the same time and there

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is a correlation between science and 
mathematics and your life just as much

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as there is a correlation between 
social studies and reading and writing

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and spelling and your life. It is 
all-encompassing. And if we can get to a

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place where we are doing that, where we are 
not teaching our children they cannot

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pursue STEM before they even really 
understand what it is, that is a huge

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barrier that will be released. That, 
in effect, affects the entire community,

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not just the African American community. 
So when you talk about our community

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specifically, it is not any different, 
right. There is a resources question

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that comes into play when you want to 
peel that onion back a little bit more,

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right. There is a resources question: 
do you have people who can demonstrate

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the accessibility of these career 
pursuits? That is a resources and

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exposure question. And so I would 
say that the issues we face in

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the African American community 
with STEM education is not

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something that is unique to our 
community. It is something, that

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perhaps, is exacerbated by certain 
statistical attributes that we

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have to face and overcome.

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Mentoring is paramount, right. 
There is a saying that experience

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is the best teacher but you will 
never live long enough to have

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all of them. So understanding as 
early as you can how to learn from

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other peoples experiences is 
absolutely crucial. When I was

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younger, I had mentors and I 
did not know, I did not know the

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value, right. These were people 
older than me who recognized the

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value and they took it upon 
themselves to pour into me. As

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I got older and I started to 
recognize the value and the

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returns and how they were 
helping me to be better, then I

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insisted on A, pursuing mentorship 
from other people, and B, trying to

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do the same thing that others had 
done for me and that take things that

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I had learned and pour them into other people. 
You know, there are all different

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sorts of mentors. There are mentors
with whom you never have a

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conversation, just that silent 
confidence, that continuous consistent

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observing they are just getting it done 
and are getting it done in a way that

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exemplifies the way I want to get it 
done, I want to be able to get it done,

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so there may never be a conversation. 
There are mentors who are very good at

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amplifying the things about you so 
that you dont forget. Dont forget

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while you are working on other things 
to work on to be better, dont forget

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to maintain these things that you do 
well. There are mentors who are very

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good at helping you find the blind spots 
and the dust piles that you put under

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the carpet and the dirty sock that’s 
been under the sofa for so long that

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you forgot it was there. They are very
good at helping you understand

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something about you that you probably 
dont see. And, and then there are

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mentors who also are advocates and 
they are the ones who are actively

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representing you when you are not there. 
And all of them are valuable and some

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may serve all roles, some may only 
serve one of those roles, but to get

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better is, is, you know, mentors are 
just so critical in helping you get

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better and just showing you what you 
can be, right. Sometimes your mentors

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can show you, can convince you that you 
can be something you never really even

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thought about being before, right.

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At Marshall Space Flight Center, 
for, I have been here for nine and a

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half years, and we have, in various 
forms, really emphasized diversity

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and inclusion. And diversity is one 
of those conversations that if you

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dont have it right, it becomes 
counterproductive and when it is

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counterproductive, it becomes a 
self-fulfilling prophecy and it

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becomes uncomfortable and nobody 
wants to have the conversation.

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And look, we should be valuing the 
uniqueness of individuals because

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it is the right thing to do, get that 
out of the way, right, aside from

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all the other values it adds, it is 
the right thing to do. Beyond that,

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at an agency chartered with doing 
things that nobody has done before,

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we have to create an environment 
where uniqueness is encouraged

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because in the presence of 
encouraged uniqueness, more

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solutions to the problems we face 
now and are going to face to get

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humans to Mars and back safely, 
we have to have more potential

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solutions on the table. To me, my 
definition of diversity is variety

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in thought whose genesis is variety 
in persons. That variety in persons

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comes from a lot of different places. 
It comes from racial diversity and

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educational diversity, demographic 
diversity, socioeconomic diversity,

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and it comes from generational 
diversity. It comes from all of

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those. Now, we are in a part of the 
country with a history that amplifies

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racial diversity and understandably 
so and necessarily so. When we have

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those conversations, we have to make 
sure, we hope to make sure that all

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of the persons involved in those 
conversations understand that we are

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not trying to check boxes, we are 
trying to do things the right way

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because it is the right thing to do 
and we are trying to do things in a

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way that furthers our ability to 
execute the mission of this agency,

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lot of good progress and I think 
the work that remains can be more

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subtle. It lies in just the 
innocence of human nature.

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When you look at who are getting 
opportunities for development,

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and it is hard to put your finger 
on it, it is trying to make sure

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that when I am in a crunch, Space 
Launch System is in what I call

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silly season, we are trying to 
build a rocket, and any time I

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need something done, and I mean 
I, Markeeva Morgan, any time that

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I need something done, I am looking 
for somebody to help me get it done,

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my natural inclination is to go 
to the folks who I know will get it

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done and I will repeatedly go to 
the folks who I know will get it

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done. One of the limitations of 
that statement, as understandable

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as it is given our schedule 
pressures, one of the limitations

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of that statement is going to the 
folks I know will get it done,

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which means I am repeatedly going 
to a small group of people created

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by my own experiences. And 
occasionally, I need to break out

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of that, break out of the autopilot 
and be deliberate about looking

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for more, for new people who might 
be able to get it done because all

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that does is expand the group within
the “I know will get it done.” And

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the more people that I know will get 
it done, quite frankly, the faster

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we are going to get it done because 
we are not asking the same people

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over and over again. And it is a 
natural thing, so we have to make

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sure that we continue to put 
emphasis on developing everybody

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to the peak of their capabilities 
and desires. That is easy to say,

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it is an easy and eloquent thing to 
say, and it is more challenging to

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do, especially in real life. It is 
not even as challenging to want to

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do, but when you really get in and 
you are trying to get the work done,

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sometimes, sometimes we fall back in 
autopilot and we have to try to live

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and make decisions more deliberately 
to be inclusive, again, because it is

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the right thing to do and then 
because it is the right thing to do

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for the Agency. Whether we are 
talking about making sure that we are

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recruiting people who are coming to 
us from a variety of schools. You

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know, an over exemplified example is 
if every engineer we hire is from the

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University of Alabama and they are all 
electrical engineers, over a period of

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time, you are going to start getting 
people who are all taught by the same

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professors. And in some way, you are 
creating a homogeneity of

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problem-solving. Now, they are all 
individuals, so we’re not going to

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be recruiting you know, numerical 
sequences of the Borg, but they are

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all taught by the same people, 
so that does create at least some

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portion of homogeneity whereas 
someone who studied the same

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subject from a different professor 
at a different school, that is an

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important aspect of this as well. And 
so, trying to make sure that we

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appreciate, no, that we go past 
appreciation to a point at which

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we are fascinated by the uniqueness 
that individuals bring to teams.

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Quite frankly, I am interested by 
people. People are, I have to

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pause because maybe you will 
edit it out, but people are,

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everybody has a little crazy 
right? And it is fascinating,

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people are fascinating when you 
really hear their story. And you,

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when you talk to ten different 
people and you realize, you know,

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if each of their lives is built 
with ten Legos and you realize

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that eight or nine of those Legos 
are all the same, or everybodys

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ten Legos came out of the same 
box of twenty and so you start

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seeing, wow, you know, we are 
really all similar. But then you

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start appreciating how we can 
all be so similar and so unique

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at the same time. And then you go 
past the point where you do not

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care. Because what I am trying to 
figure out as we are moving forward

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trying to do all the cool stuff 
that we are trying to do around

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here, what is it that we can all 
bring to the table that makes this

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work? You know, how can I enrich your 
life because mine is different from

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yours? How can I help you do your job 
because, my life is different form yours?

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That means I have a different perspective 
on this problem than you do, so how can I

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bring that perspective to the table and 
help you do your job better?

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I am eternally grateful to my 
predecessors in the African

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American community. My experience 
at Marshall Space Flight Center

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is all that it is because of an 
incredible amount of work that

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has been done before I ever showed 
up.  You know, somebody came through

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when this was a wilderness for us, 
with a machete and was just cutting

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down the brush. And then others 
came through and trampled down

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and made a path, and then somebody 
else came through and laid gravel,

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and then somebody else came through 
and paved it. And you know, I come

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through and I want it to be clear 
that I recognize that this road I

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get to travel on, it was not always 
here. As smooth as it, and that is

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not to suggest that it is, you know, 
easy sailing, I’m not in the back

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of a Maybach sipping on Champagne 
by any means, but as smooth as it

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is, as much as I am able to enjoy 
this career that I have is a direct

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result of people who came before 
me who did not have the same experience

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that I have and who sacrificed so 
that generations coming after them

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could have this type of experience. 
And I hope, I hope that daily as I

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do what I am doing and having the 
conversations that I have like this one,

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behind closed doors and making myself 
available to have conversations,

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because that is what it is about, having 
conversations and increasing

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understanding and that I am making 
this path just a little bit smoother

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for the next generation to come 
through and make it even smoother,

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that I am continuing what is a fantastic,
just, just awesome trend of making it

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better. Because it certainly was made 
better for me and I would, I would never

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want to have  any conversation like this 
without recognizing that my career and

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my life is enabled by people who dont 
even know my name, who, who put

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everything they had on the line for a 
generation of hope.

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Often times, truth is not a 
prerequisite for real and we have

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to deal with real aspects of this. 
What is real for you is, is based

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on the amalgamation of your lifes 
experiences and if that reality for

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you creates a, creates an impression 
of me that is not true, the way we

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start to share that truth is by having 
conversations from your reality and

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my reality and for me to recognize 
that the legitimacy of my opinion

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and my reality is not necessarily 
threatened by the acknowledgement

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that there is an alternate one that 
you share. If we have a conversation,

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we are seeking to learn from each 
other as opposed to a debate where

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we are seeking to convince the other 
one I am right. And, and through

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those conversations develops 
understanding, through understanding

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is the minimization of fear, and the 
eradication of fear brings togetherness,

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and that is, that is the goal. It’s not, 
we are not seeking to be the same, right,