[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 130 (Monday, July 26, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E818-E819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING MIMI AUNG AS A 28TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WOMAN OF THE YEAR

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                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 26, 2021

  Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History 
Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and 
sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to 
outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional 
District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, MiMi Aung of La 
Canada Flintridge, California, who is receiving Special Districtwide 
Recognition for her trailblazing work on the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter.
  MiMi credits her mother, who was the first Burmese woman to earn a 
doctoral degree in mathematics from an American university as her 
inspiration. MiMi's family returned to Myanmar when she was a toddler, 
where MiMi resided until she moved back to the United States at the age 
of 16 to pursue her education. She obtained her Bachelor of Science 
degree in Electrical Engineering and her Master of Science degree in 
Electrical Engineering, with her thesis focus on signal processing and 
communications, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  In 1990, Ms. Aung moved to Southern California and began working at 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), fulfilling her childhood dream of space 
exploration. She began her career by working on mathematical algorithms 
for deep space communication with

[[Page E819]]

spacecraft hundreds of millions of miles away from Earth, and during 
her 30 year career at JPL, was selected for various positions with 
increasing degrees of responsibility specifically in Deep Space Network 
projects, organizational line management, technology development, and 
space flight projects. The numerous technical areas she engaged in 
included spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control; autonomous 
systems; deep space signal processing and communications; optical 
communications and multiple-spacecraft formation flying.
  With Ms. Aung as the Project Manager, worldwide history was made on 
April 19, 2021, when the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took its first 
flight and was the first powered, controlled flight in the planet Mars' 
atmosphere, and the first such flight anywhere outside of Earth.
  Believing that young people should pursue what they believe in, and 
that critical thinking and industriousness play a big role in pursuit 
of their heart-felt objectives, MiMi is a frequent keynote speaker at 
various Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) summits and 
conferences and local area schools.
  MiMi and her husband, Dr. James Shell and their two children live in 
La Canada Flintridge. Madam Speaker, for her extraordinary achievements 
in the science realm, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this 
exceptional, well-respected woman of California's 28th Congressional 
District, MiMi Aung.

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