{"id":573347,"date":"2023-11-30T11:14:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?post_type=image-article&p=573347"},"modified":"2023-12-08T13:55:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T18:55:28","slug":"nasa-research-pilot-david-zahn","status":"publish","type":"image-article","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/nasa-research-pilot-david-zahn\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Research Pilot David Zahn"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-cover \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1363\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"A man wearing a tan flight suit flies in a blue-lit flight simulator. Navigation guidance and other controls light up the simulator\u2019s front dashboard.\" style=\"transform: scale(1.2); transform-origin: 51% 26%; object-position: 51% 26%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg 4928w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=768,511 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=1024,682 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=1536,1022 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=2048,1363 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=400,266 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=600,399 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=900,599 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=1200,799 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?resize=2000,1331 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>“I want to help the Native community get better representation and show that we can help Native citizens get into aerospace engineering, mathematics, or [other STEM career fields]. And the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations are trying to do the same thing on their reservations. They have amazing education networks, so when I realized what they were doing, I wanted to help them be successful [in their efforts]<strong> <\/strong>so that they could inspire other tribes to do the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“When I was talking with the Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations, they said, ‘We need to start making decisions for our people seven generations from now.’ So, they started looking at emerging technologies, and aviation [with a focus on] advanced air mobility was one of those areas. They said, ‘We want to make sure our youth are enabled and equipped to start fielding some of these areas,\u2019 and that’s how I want to help inspire people too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Everyone needs an anchor from their community to motivate and inspire them to move forward. I want to be a motivational anchor for the next generation of minorities. You look at minorities, and we often don’t have as many anchors from our past to make us believe [our big dreams are possible]. Providing that legacy now and saying, ‘Hey, I can be an emotional anchor to somebody in my community or with my background [in] two, three, four generations from now,’ and building something outside of myself \u2013 that’s what motivates me. I think that’s how we inspire, by leaving those anchors in our timeline.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 David Zahn, NASA Research Pilot, Ames Research Center<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Image Credit: NASA \/ Dominic Hart<br>Interviewer: NASA \/ Tahira Allen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/gallery\/faces-of-nasa\/\">Check out some of our other Faces of NASA.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>“I want to help the Native community get better representation and show that we can help Native citizens get into aerospace engineering, mathematics, or [other STEM career fields]. And the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations are trying to do the same thing on their reservations. They have amazing education networks, so when I realized what they [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":573343,"template":"","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[]},"categories":[2660,2826],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[12763],"coauthors":[10473],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA Research Pilot David Zahn","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/nasa-research-pilot-david-zahn\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/nasa-research-pilot-david-zahn\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg"},"articleSection":"Aeronautics","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Zajac"}],"creator":["Michelle Zajac"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["Aeronautics","Drones & You"],"dateCreated":"2023-11-30T16:14:47Z","datePublished":"2023-11-30T16:14:47Z","dateModified":"2023-12-08T18:55:28Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"NASA Research Pilot David Zahn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/nasa-research-pilot-david-zahn\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2023-11-30T16:14:47Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"Aeronautics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"Aeronautics,Drones & You\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Michelle Zajac\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":2,"featured_image":{"id":573343,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/acd22-0036-011orig-2.jpg","title":"NASA Research Pilot David Zahn","alt":"A man wearing a tan flight suit flies in a blue-lit flight simulator. Navigation guidance and other controls light up the simulator\u2019s front dashboard.","caption":"\"Everyone needs an anchor from their community to motivate and inspire them to move forward. I want to be a motivational anchor for the next generation of minorities.\" \u2013 David Zahn, NASA Research Pilot, Ames Research Center"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/image-article\/573347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/image-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/image-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/image-article\/573347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":577584,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/image-article\/573347\/revisions\/577584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573347"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=573347"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=573347"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=573347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}