Mark Leon

Mark Leon is a civil servant with NASA Ames Research Center. His primary work is in education and communication systems.

Early life

Mark Leon grew up in a rather rough East San Jose neighborhood. He originally began taking a slightly more academic route to life when he began hiding in the library from other high school students who were attempting to beat him up.^[1]

He also attended San Jose State University^[2] and won a silver medal in the 1985 Collegiate National Judo Championships^[3] He received his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering.

Communications Work

In the 1980s Mark Leon was instrumental in establishing trans-Atlantic communication between American, French and English space agencies. In the 1990s he completed the first audio/video link to Antarctica. This feat was thought to be impossible at that time.^[4]

Affiliation with FIRST Robotics

For the past several years Mark Leon has worked as a Master of Ceremonies in many FIRST robotics competition events both on and off season. He is particularly well known for wearing a bright blue NASA coat and dying his hair the same color for these events.^[5][6]

Robotics Alliance Project

Beginning in 1998 Mark moved to the Robotics Alliance Project at NASA Ames.^[7] This department works primarily in educational and outreach projects and was estimated in 2006 to have reached more than 100,000 middle and high school students.^[8] He also runs the Ames Robotics Academy every summer.^[9]

References