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Celebrating Women's History Month

3/30/2019

 
Of the 63 women who have ever flown in space, 37 of them have spent time on board the International Space Station. In honor of Women’s History Month, here’s a look at a few of the women who have made history doing scientific research in Earth orbit. Join us in celebrating one of the many achievements of women in space.

#WomensHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/ahgscI8KGX

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) March 30, 2019

Avatar Awarded NASA Certificate of Appreciation

2/8/2019

 
Avatar team member Carl Villanueva was awarded a KLXS-II Certificate of Appreciation for his excellent work on the Weekly Forum Summary.  His direct NASA customer specifically recognized Carl’s invaluable insights into each forum’s operations and background, as well as sending out high-quality Weekly Forum Summary to over 2,000 mission stakeholders. 

Congratulations, Carl!
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Avatar Intern Presented with NASA Innovation Award

8/20/2018

 
Intern Hunter Goodenow, along with two other NASA interns, took second place at the “Innovation Without Boundaries” event for their Mobile Acronym Search Tool (MAST). Impressively, this was a NASA Kennedy Space Center campus-wide event, not just specific to interns. His team’s tool enables access to NASA acronyms via mobile devices and will ultimately provide acronym access to the entire NASA workforce and the public. 
​Working at NASA means being exposed to hundreds, even thousands of acronyms from VAB, to OCC, to OPOV, to TCN. Obviously, it’s not hard to get confused. Acronyms like SPS could have six different meanings! Is it Solar Power Satellite, or Service Propulsion Subsystem? Maybe it’s something completely different. The beauty of MAST (which, ironically, is an acronym itself) is that it limits this confusion by offering easier acronym access.
 
Hunter originally pitched the idea in passing to his supervisors. At this point, it was just a creative thought. The problem he identified was that too much time is spent teaching employees’ acronyms opposed to actual “ideas” or substantial information.  “There are so many acronyms out here, the person who invents the acronym app will be a hero to all new hires and interns.”
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 What makes Hunter so valuable to Avatar is that his passion fuels the creation of his imaginative ideas. He has become the acronym hero!  Hunter and his team submitted a simple, one slide, two-minute presentation to a panel of about 30 people from different innovation disciplines and came out with a second-place ribbon!
 
Hunter’s MAST idea has the potential to greatly impact the Kennedy Space Center community by easing a burden that most employees have simply come to accept as unchangeable. This is just one example of how Avatar team members are difference makers. We are proud to recognize Hunter’s enthusiasm and contribution for creating this outstanding innovative solution.

Avatar Appoints New CEO

10/1/2016

 
Avatar Technologies appoints Kajal Pancholi, PE as the CEO & President to lead the company’s strategic growth and business development initiatives. As a licensed engineer with over 15 years of business development, government contracting and aerospace industry experience, Kajal brings a wealth of leadership and commercial know-how. She will be responsible for organizational leadership, strategy, growth and general management.
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​Kajal comes to Avatar with over 15 years of business development and government contracting experience. Most recently, she worked as the Director of Business Development & Marketing for Millennium Engineering and Integration Company where she managed over $1 billion pipeline, oversaw quality management systems as a Certified ISO 9001 and AS9100 Lead Auditor, managed several successful $50M+ proposals, and won engineering program manager award from the Missile Defense Agency. She is a licensed professional engineer from the state of Maryland; she earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland.
​

Avatar Team Members Receive Awards For Leadership & Technical Excellence

8/19/2013

 
Avatar is proud to announce that several of our outstanding employees have recently received awards for their exemplary performance under the KLXS contract. Please see below for a brief description of their achievements!

Nick Kindred (KLXS Certificate of Recognition)
In appreciation of his outstanding leadership and support to the Spacecraft Offline Processing Element EOM. Functioning as the Element Operations Manager Deputy, Nick prepared the team for the Preliminary Design Review, leading or overseeing such products as GOPDb Drops 5 and 6; 3-point estimates; resource loading; contingency planning; requirements development; detailed validations and objectives; and stakeholder expectations development. As the Deputy, he led the weekly Spacecraft Offline Processing Element Operations working group and drove many actions to closure with sound technical insights that required constant team coordination. Nick’s efforts stand as an example of excellent quality products and services and are a direct result of his can-do attitude and dedication to the program goals and objectives.

Fred Simmler (KLXS Certificate of Recognition)
In appreciation of Fred’s outstanding leadership in the emulator/simulator team developing Tri-Program Bi-Lateral Exchange Agreements. The analysis and guidance he has provided is recognized as critical to supporting GSDO verification planning and execution. Additionally, he has enhanced technical integration efforts through effective cross functional team collaboration while providing solution based recommendations after identifying non-compliances to the C3R technical baseline and gaps in C3R requirements. Fred’s achievements are a direct result of his exceptional ability to offer and implement effective solutions and indicative of his dedication to the GSDO mission.

Wayne Obenour (Space Flight Awareness Award)
For outstanding leadership and technical excellence in integrating Space Launch System (SLS) Launch Vehicle requirements, design and operations planning with the launch complex ground systems in support the Agency’s Exploration Program.
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