As a child living in Bangladesh, Mahmooda Sultana probably followed NASA’s accomplishments more so than other kids her age.

This, she said, was more than likely due to the fact that a great uncle worked as a physicist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, a half a world away in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley.

Nonetheless, those accomplishments inspired her to also want a career at NASA. Interestingly, it almost didn’t happen. ‘We’re fortunate she came to NASA,’ said Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes, whose office selected her as its FY17 IRAD Innovator of the Year, an award bestowed annually on those who represent the best in R&D.

Hughes and his team selected Sultana because of her groundbreaking work advancing nanomaterials and processes to create small, potentially revolutionary detectors and devices. You can now share this issue with your friends and colleagues via your own social-media channels. Click the Share button to begin.

‘Mahmooda has distinguished herself as a tenacious, creative thinker, impressing virtually everyone with her technical acumen and drive,’ Hughes continued.

‘In her relatively short time here, she has successfully competed for 10 awards under our Internal Research and Development program, compiling an impressive list of accomplishments, including the creation of advanced sensors for which a patent is pending. Perhaps most notable is her emergence as one of NASA’s experts in nanotechnology. I can only imagine what she’ll do in the future. She embodies the very essence of innovation.’

Just before earning a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010, Sultana had considered a career in academia or possibly as a research engineer for one of the Department of Energy’s national laboratories or private industry — her dream of working for the nation’s space program forgotten.

‘It was lucky for me,’ said Sultana, who, as a teen, immigrated to California with her family and ultimately received an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering Summa Cum Laude from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. ‘I met Thomas Stevenson.’

At an MIT job fair, she talked with Stevenson who was recruiting talent for Goddard’s Detector Systems Branch. He quickly recognized her potential.

As a graduate assistant and then as a research intern with Bell Laboratories, she had already characterized, designed, and developed detectors.

A job was offered. She accepted, a childhood dream reignited and fulfilled, she said.