Tracy Van Houten
Tracy Van Houten
Tracy Van Houten is a nationally recognized Rocket scientist running for office in a special election for the U.S. House of Representatives vacated seat as the incumbent Xavier Becerra was nominated to serve as Attorney General of California. [31]
Background
Early Life
Van Houten graduating.
Tracy Van Houten was born and raised in the state of California. The daughter of a schoolteacher, as a young girl she aspired to learn more about the universe. With the right guidance and support, she was never afraid to dive deep and explore the stars. She mostly grew up in the Poway area of Southern California. [14]
Her grandmother was a small enterprise proprietor in San Diego, and she fought for the civil rights of people in her town. She would bring warring teams collectively to make optimistic change.
Van Houten would never discontinue her aspirations of discovering a world beyond her own, which allowed for a clear path to becoming one of the most respected women in Science.
Education
Van Houten wears her "Nasty" NASA t-shirt as a commemoration to "Nasty Woman".
She attended California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo where she received her BS in Aerospace engineering with a concentration in Astronautics. During her time there she became the president of Society of Women Engineers. She represested more than 500 student members. She was the first region collegiate representative coordinator. [24]
She then received her MS in Astronautics and Space Technology from University of Southern California. [21]
Career
Photo of Van Houten out in the sun.
Once she graduated Cal Poly, she immediately started working as a Systems engineer for the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This is the dream job that she always wanted - exploring the universe on a daily basis. She was the lead systems engineer on team X, a conceptual design team where she was technical lead and managed 15 systems engineers. Due to her positive experience in the aforementioned project, she was recognized for her job, and chosen to form part of the highly competitive 5-year training program. She was 1 out of 11 out of hundreds to have been chosen, and the youngest to be participated. [24]
She has been a leader in many projects, including the Mars Science Laboratory team.
Her jobs means blending her technical aerospace background with leadership.
August, 2012, she formed part of the team that landed the curiosity rover on Mars. [24]
She has also been a part of the Soil Moisture Active Passive project and the Europa Jupiter System Mission.
Van Houten is currently the Verification and Validation lead for the Mars 2020 rover mission’s flight system.
Personal
Van Houten lives with her husband, Kevin, and their children, Aiden and Siena.
She is a wedding florist.
She likes to travel, camps and hike with her family.
Elections
2017 34th Congressional District of California
Van Houten campaign flier.
The elections for the 34th Congressional District of California are considered to be a prevailing Democratic election - as out of the 23 candidates, only one is running as a republican. The election is meant to replace Xavier Becerra (D), who was appointed by Jerry Brown as the California Attorney General. [18]
She was compelled to form part of the elections due to the policies by the newly elected president, Donald Trump. As a supporter of many public faculties, she strongly opposes Betsy DeVos in favor of having a strong focus in the STEM field of education. She is committed to providing our children and teachers with the resources they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond. [30]
Tracy will fight the current administration's hateful agenda.
She's committed to equality and social justice and is a proven LGBTQ ally.
Tracy knows that women's rights are human rights and that the engine of American progress is fueled by immigrants.
Her deep roots in science and technology make her uniquely qualified to meet the challenges our state faces in battling climate change, innovating water solutions, and modernizing our infrastructure and public transit system.
Campaign themes
Immigration: The engine of American progress is fueled by immigrants. While national security is a top priority, Trump’s immigration policies are not based on facts. The immigration raids we are seeing across the country, as well as his travel ban, are nothing more than fear-mongering and scapegoating of our immigrant communities in lieu of solving the real issues facing our country. As a rocket scientist, I operate in truth and facts.
Environment: My deep roots in science and technology make me uniquely qualified to meet the challenges our state, nation, and world face in battling climate change. Expanding new and innovative water storage and sanitation solutions, and modernizing our infrastructure to protect our environment and natural resources are necessary tenants as our city grows.
Healthcare: Under the Obama Administration, we reached a historically low rate of uninsured Americans and have heard countless stories from people who would not be alive today without the Affordable Care Act. I will hold the line. We cannot go back to a system that prevents individuals with pre-existing conditions from accessing life-saving healthcare coverage.
Homelessness: We need to collaborate with local organizations that have the experience in working with people experiencing homelessness. The top-down approach to addressing our homelessness issues is failing and cannot be addressed as a single issue. We need to ensure that these most vulnerable residents have clear access to education and the tools and resources to find paths to success. Homelessness stretches across the socio-economic foundation of our communities, and we must look at the larger landscape of our economy to appropriately address this issue, including affordable housing, employment, and transportation solutions. As we clearly need more housing, I support the smart growth of denser development. We simply cannot appropriately address this important issue with a singular approach.
Law Enforcement & Racial Profiling: Every American deserves basic and equal human rights. It is shameful that black youth, the Latinx community, and other minorities are incarcerated at rates far exceeding whites. The problems we are seeing are the result of complex and deep-rooted systems of oppression, and I understand that there is no such thing as a simple fix for our criminal justice system. If elected, I will support federal policies that decrease incarceration rates by reclassifying non-violent, non-serious felonies as misdemeanors. Non-violent criminal offenses should be treated through rehabilitation, reentry and probationary programs. [17]
See Also:
California's 34th Congressional District special election list of Candidates, 2017