D.C. He first learned about computers in a special evening program on computer maintenance at his high school, sponsored by Black IBM engineers. He received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Howard University in 1976, and then received a NASA minority-oriented grant to work at the Ames Research Center while pursuing a master's degree at Stanford University. While at Ames, Neal developed the computer systems used to test heat shields for the Space Shuttle and Galileo probe to Jupiter. This was tricky. During the first shuttle flight, a few of the heat tiles fell off, and there was concern about the effect this would have on the shuttle's ability to safely reenter the earth's atmosphere.
History shows the testing was very effective, and the tiles are in use today.