From NC State to Outer Space: Christina Koch and the Impact of Women in Engineering

Every year on International Women in Engineering Day, we celebrate the women whose work shapes industries, solves complex problems and expands what future generations believe is possible.

This year, one engineer immediately came to mind: Christina Koch.

Christina Koch’s Path to NASA

Like me, Christina studied electrical engineering at North Carolina State University, a connection that makes her accomplishments feel both inspiring and surprisingly tangible. It’s easy to think of astronauts as extraordinary people who followed an impossible path. But Christina’s story reminds us that world-changing careers often begin in familiar places: classrooms, labs, and late nights solving engineering problems.

Christina earned  a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from NC State, along with degrees in physics and a master’s in electrical engineering. Her career took her through roles designing space science instruments, working in extreme environments including Greenland and Antarctica, where she served as the station chief for the United States Antarctic Program.

Before joining NASA, Christina worked as an electrical engineer supporting space science missions and advanced research environments. Early in her career, she contributed to instrumentation development at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where engineers design and integrate scientific systems used to collect and transmit data from space.

In 2019, she made history during a 328-day mission aboard the International Space Station, setting the record at the time for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman and participating in the first all-woman spacewalk along with astronaut Jessica Meir. More recently, she was selected as part of NASA’s Artemis program crew, becoming the first woman assigned to orbit the moon.

The Foundation of an Engineering Mindset

Those milestones are remarkable on their own. But what resonates most with me isn’t just the destination, it’s the foundation.

Electrical engineering teaches a way of thinking. It’s learning to work through uncertainty, break apart complicated systems and trust the process when the answer isn’t obvious yet. Whether you’re troubleshooting a design, improving infrastructure or helping send humans into space, those skills matter.

That’s one reason Christina’s journey stands out.

Why Representation in Engineering Still Matters

Women in engineering continue to make incredible contributions across every discipline, yet representation and visibility still matter. Seeing women lead missions, solve technical challenges and redefine expectations helps create a clearer picture for students and early-career engineers deciding what’s possible for themselves.

International Women in Engineering Day is an opportunity to celebrate not only highly visible achievements, but also the thousands of women applying engineering expertise every day to improve systems, create solutions and move industries forward.

Knowing that another NC State electrical engineer went on to help redefine space exploration is a reminder that engineering careers rarely follow a straight line. The skills developed in one classroom can eventually show up in places you never imagined.

For me, that’s one of the best parts of being an engineer: you never fully know where the degree will take you.

So this International Women in Engineering Day, I’m celebrating not only Christina Koch’s achievements, but also the broader community of women engineers, those designing, building, leading, innovating and opening doors for the next generation.

And as fellow NC State electrical engineers, I like to think there’s something especially fitting about this reminder:

Big journeys can start in familiar places.

Go Pack. 🐺

Part of our Women in Engineering series:

• Dr. Edith Clarke
• Mary Jackson
• Beatrice Hicks  
• Hedy Lamarr

About the Author

Kimberly Witte is the Manager of Electrical Safety Operations within the Electrical Safety Services group. She has spent the last 6 years at Hallam-ICS after graduating from NC State University. She enjoys ballroom dancing, reading, and crafting.

Read  My Hallam Story  

About Hallam-ICS

Hallam-ICS is an engineering and automation company that designs MEP systems for facilities and plants, engineers control and automation solutions, and ensures safety and regulatory compliance through arc flash studies, commissioning, and validation. Our offices are located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont,  North Carolina and Texas and our projects take us world-wide.