
Margaret Zoila Dominguez
Optical Engineer / Optics Associate Branch Head — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
✓ Verified current as of 2026-09-24
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
She serves as test lead for the grism (grating-prism) component of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's Wide Field Instrument — aligning, assembling, and testing the optics that let the telescope survey distant galaxies. She previously worked on ground support equipment for the James Webb Space Telescope.
HOW THEY ENTERED THE INDUSTRY
Born in Tecamachalco, Puebla, Mexico, she organized a physics conference as an undergraduate where a NASA astrophysicist was speaking; he offered her a summer internship at Goddard Space Flight Center, which led to her becoming a full-time NASA optical engineer in 2014.
EDUCATION
B.S. in Physics from Universidad de las Américas Puebla (Mexico); M.S. and Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona
CONNECTED TO YOUR PATH
Her path started with showing up and organizing an event, not a connection she already had — the internship came because she put herself in the room, a lesson that applies directly to any student networking through a school program or club.
EXPLICACIÓN EN ESPAÑOL
Ingeniera óptica de la NASA que prueba la óptica de telescopios para el Telescopio Espacial Roman, tras comenzar con una pasantía obtenida en una conferencia estudiantil que ella misma organizó.
SOURCES
- Dr. Margaret Dominguez, Board of Directors — DiscoverE
- National Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month: Margaret Dominguez — University of Arizona Wyant College of Optical Sciences
- Margaret Zoila Dominguez — Wikipedia (cross-checked)




