'We're not doing our job,' NASA leader tells Alabama rocket engineers

"We are not doing our job," NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman told a roomful of aerospace engineers in Huntsville Thursday. "I can put it clearly on us."

An aerospace engineer herself, Newman was speaking to the 9th Von Braun Space Symposium about the hurdles the profession puts in front of women and minority students. The conference finished Thursday at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

"We said, 'You have to be the best and brightest in calculus and math and physics.' Well, how intimidating is that?" Newman asked. "No, no, no. I say it's a different conversation. 'You want to find life in the universe? You want to build rockets? Then, you're in.'"

Instead of filtering students out, Newman said government, academia and industry today are looking for ways "to filter every single one of those young folks in."

Read more: http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2016/10/were_not_doing_our_job_nasa_le.html