You don’t have to be a scientist, engineer or astronaut to support NASA’s missions to Mars or the moons of Jupiter.
Just ask Cindy Lee, a Master of Public Policy (MPP) graduate from the USC Price School of Public Policy.
Lee, who earned her MPP in 2020, is Legislative and Government Affairs Specialist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Based in Pasadena, JPL has been at the forefront of America’s space program since it was founded in 1936 by a team of Caltech scientists and an eccentric amateur chemist who studied at USC.
Lee’s job is to build relationships with state and local governments, informing elected officials about JPL’s work (and inviting them to see rocket launches) or advocating for space missions, among other tasks.
“I like to describe it as space advocacy,” Lee said.
Lee is an example of the wide-ranging career paths that graduates can take from the USC Price School. She credits Price for teaching her how to sort through legislation to find key information. She applies lessons in policy communications when translating NASA’s complex, sci-fi-like missions, such as the search for water under the crust of Europa, a moon of Jupiter.
“Scientists and engineers are very technical and that carries over to how they communicate, so I guide them on how to make it more simple or understandable,” Lee said. “The example I always use is: if you lose me in the first 30 seconds, you’re going to lose your audience who does not know the science and technical terminology.”
From Price to the halls of power
Lee was once a congressional district staffer, working full-time for U.S. Rep. Judy Chu in California while studying at the USC Price School. “I applied to Price because of the flexibility and how the school accommodates people who are working full time,” Lee said.
Her six years working from Chu’s district office in Pasadena taught Lee the inner workings of the legislative branch. She learned that, in addition to crafting and passing legislation, lawmakers’ staff spend many hours directly helping constituents – with tasks ranging from obtaining passports to dealing with the IRS.
Having worked for a progressive lawmaker and later the pro-business Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Lee also learned that there are still areas of common ground during this moment of sharp polarization.
“We’re becoming more divided, in some cases for very good reasons, but I think there are still opportunities to find a middle ground,” Lee said. “There are members in the legislature who are bipartisan, who will cross the aisle. So, I think from a policy perspective, I think we need to be able to analyze from both sides and ask questions from both sides.”
When most people think of NASA, they likely imagine astronauts on the Moon or rovers on Mars. “But what people don’t know about JPL or NASA as a whole is we actually do a lot of Earth sciences missions,” Lee noted.
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Find Out MoreFor example, Lee is working with local cities on sharing earth science data. She’s helped elected officials and staffers connect with subject matter experts to understand the data collected by NASA’s satellites and spacecraft, and how that data could help the city track its various sustainability goals.
“Every climate issue you can think of, there is likely a current mission in space or data and research going on about that climate issue,” Lee said.
Lee has remained close with the USC Price School community. She volunteers her time for the mentorship program run by the Office of Career Services, helping students apply for internships, improve their resumes or make professional connections. For Lee, the program has come full circle.
“I joined that program my first year at Price, and I am still in contact with my mentor,” Lee said. “We built a relationship.”
Sometimes, Lee is reminded that she has a cool job at JPL when she takes friends and kids on tours. Lee said, “When I see others’ excitement for the work we do, that’s when it hits me that I have a cool job. My favorite part is seeing the excitement of little kids and hoping they leave inspired to pursue space and science when they grow up.”
