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<\/a><\/figure>As a girl growing up in the Middle East, Al Fulfulee had few opportunities to pursue this dream, but she refused to give up. Her dedication to schoolwork and excellence in science and math earned her a spot at the University of Baghdad College of Engineering. She completed a degree in electronic and communication engineering \u2014 similar to American electrical and computer engineering programs \u2014 and graduated as one of the top 10 students in her class. \u201cWe had a graduation party where you dress up as what you want to be in the future,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI wore a spacesuit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/figure>Al Fulfulee was ready to launch her career, but Iraq did not have a developed space industry and finding work as a female engineer was a challenge. She accepted a project engineer position with a prominent Iraqi engineering firm in the information technology sector and spent four years working for the company in Iraq, Turkey, and Jordan, but she was disappointed to discover that her role involved very little engineering. \u201cI was the only female on the team,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was not common for a woman to work in the field or with customers, so I was always left behind to do office work. The job was not fulfilling.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Still determined to join NASA, Al Fulfulee kept looking for her chance to come to the United States and finally found one in 2016, when she moved to Oklahoma to be near her sister. A new challenge soon rose: Without a degree from an American school or previous work experience in the United States, engineering opportunities were hard to come by. Al Fulfulee spent the next six years working in quality assurance for a human resources software company while she completed a MicroMasters program in software verification and management from the University of Maryland and honed her English and leadership skills. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2022, when she landed a job with Boeing Defense, Space, and Security as a software quality engineer. \u201cI was so excited,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew I was much closer to my dream since Boeing worked in the space industry and I would be able to apply internally to work on a space program.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/figure>Less than one year later, Al Fulfulee became a system design and analysis engineer for the International Space Station Program and joined the Station Management and Control Team at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston. She helps develop requirements, monitors performance, and validates testing for electrical systems and software supporting space station payloads. She also designs hardware, software, and interface specifications for those systems. Al Fulfulee has served as the team\u2019s point of contact, delivering verification assessment and data assessment reports for NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-9 and Crew-10 missions, as well as the upcoming Axiom Mission 4 flight. She is currently working to support testing and verification for NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-11.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI could not<\/em> be happier,\u201d she declared. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n She is also not stopping. \u201cI won\u2019t quit until I wear the blue suit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n