Catherine Prohaska ’86 (M.B.A ’90)
Chief Information Officer, NASA Langley Research Center
Catherine Prohaska was a junior at 51鱨վ when she stepped into a cooperative education office on a whim after taking a final exam before summer break.
“I’m walking out of the building and there’s this resource there,” she recalls. “I thought, ‘Oh, well this is interesting. Let me just go in and check it out.’”
As fate would have it, an internship — and an interview — at NASA Langley was offered that same day. Nearly 40 years later, Prohaska is still there. “I consider myself very lucky. Somebody was looking out for me (that day).”
At NASA Langley, Prohaska has worked her way up from business computer programming and budgeting/ finance to chief information officer, a position she’s held since 2018. NASA also paid for her to pursue her M.B.A. at 51鱨վ, she notes.
Now she leads a team of IT specialists who perform critical business and customer relationship management roles for the center. She also collaborates with IT program executives across the agency to deliver enterprise services that range from cybersecurity to data analytics.
“It’s been a fantastic journey,” Prohaska says. “I’ve loved every moment of it.”
Did you always want to work at NASA?
When I was younger, I knew they had rockets, they launch things, and of course there's Kennedy Space Center — I was familiar with that piece of NASA. But I didn't realize there was this breadth of work that NASA does and this amazing mission. And I didn't realize they were right here in my own backyard in Hampton. So, it wasn’t something I had envisioned for myself, but I absolutely loved it as soon as I started working here and I knew I wanted to stay.
What’s the best or most surprising thing about working at NASA?
I thought, “Oh, you're going to go in and it's going to be a bunch of scientists and engineers and they're all going to be really technical people.” But it really is so much more diverse. You get to work with so many different people. There are people from all over the country, from all over the world. I think NASA really embraces diversity. It’s not just about race and gender, it's diversity of thought and creativity — you see so much of that at NASA.
What’s the coolest or most challenging project you’ve worked on (or one that makes you most proud)?
As a mission support organization, we have the honor of providing core IT services that benefit all NASA programs. We’re not just working on one specific NASA program. I really feel like we've got our hand in everything that NASA does and we are key to enabling the NASA mission. Some of the coolest stuff going on right now is the new Artemis program. NASA's going to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon in a couple of years, and then go on to Mars. I think that is super exciting, and I'm really proud to be a part of this journey.
How did 51鱨վ prepare you for what you’re doing now?
The internship — having that experience I think was key. It opened the door to NASA Langley for me. I honestly believe if I had not stumbled into the 51鱨վ office that day, I would not be at NASA.
What would you tell young Monarchs to convince them to add NASA to their list of employers to explore after graduation?
There is a place for everyone at NASA. Anyone that's pursuing any field, there's probably a role for you and something that you can do. And at NASA you have the opportunity to do incredible things that are literally helping humankind and benefiting the world. Scientists, researchers, engineers, obviously we need those folks — we need lots of those folks. But it is also critical to have so many other supporting functions to be able to accomplish the amazing things that we do at NASA. I encourage students to come check us out!