Wanda Harding

WANDA J. HARDING is an engineer and STEM Educator devoted to preparing the next generation of 21stCentury leaders and innovators. She currently serves as Department Chair and mathematics instructor at the Carver Early College High School in Atlanta, GA. Wanda was awarded a fellowship through the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Georgia Teaching Fellowship Program and successfully completed work for a Master's degree in Secondary Education, with an emphasis on Mathematics.  The fellowship provided a unique bridge for Wanda as she transitioned from industry to the classroom in high needs schools.  She taught physics and created an introduction to engineering course for Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, GA (2017-2018), taught physics and advanced algebra at Carver Early College High School in Atlanta, GA (2018 - 2021), and Physical Science at Young Middle School in historic Southwest Atlanta, GA (2021-2022).

Prior to pursuing a career as a full-time STEM educator, Ms. Harding served over 20 years in the field of aerospace with NASA and NOAA as a highly skilled manager and leader, keeping teams on schedule, within budget, and motivated towards mission success. Her accomplished career includes systems engineering as part of the International Space Station program and the rocket launches of planetary and space science missions as Senior Mission Manager in the Launch Services Program at NASA/Kennedy Space Center. As a mission manager, Wanda led and managed matrixed, multi-disciplined mission integration teams of senior level engineers and business management personnel located at Kennedy Space Center and at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. 

She was a member of the NASA Launch Day management team, and was polled to provide a "go" for the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) (Curiosity Rover), Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART), and the Gravity Probe-B missions, which launched from Florida and California, respectively.  Other missions benefiting from her leadership include the secondary payload missions Oersted, SUNSAT, Munin, and Citizen Explorer; and the primary missions Spitzer Space Telescope, Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM),  Dawn, Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Following her stellar career with NASA, Wanda was recruited to serve as Technical Director with the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Program, providing leadership in programmatic and technical integration for NOAA's next generation polar-orbiting environmental satellite system.  She was awarded the acclaimed Bronze Medal of Leadership for her service with NOAA and the Department of Commerce.

Wanda is also a musician, family historian, and author. She is a member of the Antioch Baptist Church, North, National Hampton University Alumni Association, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the National Archives Foundation, and a proud charter member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Her first children's book, "When I Consider...God's Amazing Universe" was re-released in 2022. 

Wanda earned a Bachelor of Science Degree, Electrical Engineering, from Hampton University.  She continued her graduate studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she earned a Master’s of Science degree, Electrical Engineering.  She later pursued and earned a Master of Arts in Teaching, with an emphasis on Secondary Mathematics, from Piedmont College.  She is certified by the State of Georgia to teach secondary mathematics, physics, and engineering.

Wanda enjoys spending time with family and friends, music, and traveling.