Dr. Christine Mann Darden is featured in Margot Shetterly's book "Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race," which was adapted into a movie titled "Hidden Figures" released in 2016.
Dr. Darden spoke to the 17th College of Engineering Welcome to first-year engineering students. She told more than 1,400 students to aim for their final destination and not to worry about the steps and roadblocks along the way.
"They'll run into detours, because sometimes detours trip people up, but they've got to persevere and keep doing and learn how to take a detour and come back should something happen," Darden told ABC11.
Darden was raised in Monroe, NC and attended Hampton University, Virginia State University and George Washington University.
Early in her career, Darden worked as one of the "human computers" within NASA helping the space program before moving into a position as one of its first female supersonic engineers.