Alumna Simone Hutchinson Helps NASA’s New Pathways to the Moon Project

MAKING HEAVENLY DECISIONS

GRADUATE IS AT THE WHEELS OF NEW NASA PATHWAYS TO THE MOON, MARS BY [ Megan TRUSDELL ]

Simone Hutchinson and husband, James Hutchinson III, and their two sons, James Hutchinson IV and Jaxson Hutchinson visit the Tallahassee campus.

Hutchison’s role at NASA is the Gateway resource integrator, responsibilities include program planning, budgeting and execution, monthly and quarterly processes.

As a teenager in Fort Myers, Florida, Simone Hutchinson could see tiny plumes of smoke in the distant skies when space shuttles launched on the opposite side of the state from Cape Canaveral.

Thoughts of working at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston and NASA, and trying to get people back to the moon, however, were even more distant. Yet, through a Florida A&M University (FAMU) connection and a bit of serendipity, Hutchinson has become key in building “The Gateway,” an orbital platform - think mini version of the space station- that is part of Artemis, the project working to return humans to the lunar surface, a feat last achieved via Apollo 17 in 1972.

“I am excited that Gateway will be the orbiting lunar outpost and will be a part of taking humans back to the Moon,” said Hutchinson, who is the Gateway resource integrator. “It will be a testbed for technologies that will eventually be used when humans journey on to Mars.”

As the Gateway resource integrator, her responsibilities include program planning, budgeting and execution, monthly and quarterly reporting processes, phasing plan development, and coordination of resources across nine NASA centers.

“I have always been a person who loves math and numbers,” she said. “That love of numbers now allows me to look at budgets without bias, perform excellent analysis of resource performance, and provide fiscal advice to the technical community when hard decisions need to be made.”

The Gateway program has about 300 civil servants and a budget of $700 million.

“We all share in essentially getting people to outer space,” Hutchinson added. “There are the technical people who build the rockets and make sure they are safely putting them into space — bioastronautics, ‘what does outer space do to us.’ As a resource person, it’s our job to manage the money we get.”

Her Journey was Launched Via U.S. Army

Hutchinson, the third of four children, was born in Landstuhl, Germany. Her father, Nathaniel Bonner, was in the Army and stationed at Ramstein Air Base. When Bonner retired in 1993, he moved the family back to his hometown of Fort Myers, where Hutchinson attended middle and Bonner High School, from which she graduated in 2004.

“It was a little challenging to find those who you might call your ‘forever friends,’ because you’re all always changing,” Hutchinson says about military brat life. “I think, ultimately, it set me up to being able to adapt and deal with change because I was constantly enduring it every three or four years until age 12.”

Hutchinson initially wanted to be a teacher. After working in an afterschool program for several years,

she realized it was not her true passion. A penchant for business ran in the family. Her mom had a business degree and worked in the finance department for the Lee County School Board. She was also head of the finance committee at their church.

“I like numbers and it just kind of fit,” she said. “I thought, one day, I was going to be a CEO or CFO. I don’t know that I ever had an idea of a specific company to run, but just knowing and being the best business professional that I could be was kind of the goal.”

She initially did not want to attend FAMU, because so many family members, including her two older brothers, had done so and were still in the area. She was not wild about living in the same city as them, she said. However, she was on a Black-history brain bowl team in high school, and they won the state competition; for Hutchinson, a new school of thought emerged after she was awarded a full ride FAMU. The school’s combined BA/MBA degree, which allows students to complete a bachelor and master’s degree program in five years, was the “cherry on top.”

Looking back, she says deciding to attend FAMU was the best decision she ever made.

“There were so many great professors who poured into us like we were their children,” she said. “They looked to foster an environment for us where we could succeed.”

Taking Off From FAMU, Then to Ford and Beyond

Her first post-graduate job was at Ford Motor Company, where she had completed her last internship. At the time, the Detroit-based automaker was shuttering plants and cutting jobs as part of a restructuring plan to restore profitability. It was not a happy place. She did not see a future there.

She mentioned her plight to a former FAMU/ SBI classmate who worked for NASA that she was looking for work. He encouraged her to apply for a NASA position.

“Fast forward 15 years later, here I am,” she says. “Since coming to JSC every person I have met along my journey has made me feel like I’m a part of the mission.”

Hutchinson started as a resource analyst on the International Space Station before moving to Advanced Exploration Systems, which is charged with conducting and planning the Artemis missions.

Shawnta Friday-Stroud, Ph.D., dean of the FAMU School of Business and Industry (SBI), said Hutchinson was a diligent student, team player, and one who was serious about trying to excel.

“We prepare future leaders across all industries, sectors,” says Friday-Stroud. “When you go through the curriculum here, there’s not much else you can’t figure out how to do. Anything that anybody throws your way, ‘OK, I can handle that,’ because you have been conditioned to do that. Her success is a testament to the program and her personal drive.”

Vera Harper, Ph.D., a former associate professor of business at FAMU, agrees.

“Dr. Mobley (Sybil Mobley, Ph.D., founding SBI dean) used to say when her students graduated, they could go into any area and do well because of the training they received when they were at SBI.”

Hutchinson, who lives in Manvel, Texas, with her husband James Hutchinson III (also a FAMU graduate) and two boys, ages 3 and 10, said her time at FAMU laid the foundation for her to succeed in almost industry she chose.

“It’s awesome to think that the work I do will eventually lead to people being on the moon, and will, eventually, lead to people going to Mars.”

It’s never too early to get son James IV interested in science and the wonders of NASA.

CREDIT: SIMONE HUTCHINSON Family time is very important to the Hutchinsons. Simone Hutchinson and husband, James Hutchinson III, and younger Jaxson during a visit to the campus.

There were so many great professors who poured into us like we were their children,” she said. “They looked to foster an environment for us where we could succeed.”