Meet Janelle Wellons: Advisory Board Member

After graduating from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, Janelle went to work at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an instrument operations engineer. During her time as NASA thus far, Janelle has won various team and individual technical awards, and has also been awarded the Bruce Murray Award for “inspiring students to engage in STEM, quenching their thirst for knowledge, and sparking a curiosity greater than the stars in the sky”. Her current projects consist of the Earth-observing Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols, Sentinel-6, and SWOT. She has previously worked on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Cassini mission at Saturn. Additionally, she serves as the President of the Black Excellence Strategic Team, which is one of JPL’s Employee Resource Groups.

Janelle also serves on the subsidiary board and as a STEM advisor to the YWCA Glendale and Pasadena, where she leads fundraising activities and helps support programming for girls in elementary through high school. Janelle feels passionate about providing mentorship and inspiration to women that working in traditionally male-dominated industries.

From Janelle: “I first joined The Collective Rising as a member during the platform’s beta debut. The Collective Rising’s mission strongly resonated with me then, and it has been wonderful to watch the platform evolve and the community grow. I feel so grateful to now be on the advisory board and to be able to play a larger role in this community, by helping share my experiences, and provide guidance and support to other members of the community.”