Jimmy Kenyon
NASA Glenn Research Center
Education: Doctoral degree in mechanical engineering
First Thing I Do When I Start My Day: I start my day with a prayer reflecting first on what I’m grateful for from the day before. There are plenty of studies that say gratitude is a good strategy for building resilience, and from my experience, it really works.
What Motivates Me: Making a difference. I want to do something that matters, especially if it helps people.
Proudest Moment: Watching my son graduate from college. He had a tough start in life. First, we were told he wouldn’t live and then that he would never walk. But he’s a fighter, and I watched him walk across the stage at his commencement ceremony at Virginia Tech.
My Very First Job and What I Learned From It: I was a peanut scout. During summers in South Georgia, I walked through farmers’ peanut fields every week looking for insect infestations or other problems to report so the farmers could treat them. The biggest thing I learned from that experience was that I didn’t want to be a farmer ... but I hold tremendous respect and admiration for the farmers.