Tiffany Montague, Technical Program Manager for NASA and Google Lunar X PRIZE, Google, Inc., speaks during a press conference, Monday, July 20, 2009, announcing the launch of Moon in Google Earth, an immersive 3D atlas of the Moon, accessible within Google Earth 5.0, Monday, July 20, 2009, at the Newseum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill […]

The New York Times profiles Tiffany Montague, a would-be astronaut who served in the U.S. Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office who now manages Google’s space initiatives. Montague parlayed her 20 percent time — Google employees are encouraged to devote 20 percent of their work time on a project of their own choosing — into a full-time job.

“Google first hired Ms. Montague as a project manager in the engineering group only to see her aim her ‘20 percent time’ at the nearby NASA Ames Research Center, and for that 20 percent time to turn into her full-time job.

“It turns out that Pete Worden, the head of NASA Ames, used to mentor Ms. Montague during her days with the Air Force. And the two have rekindled their relationship.”

 

READ IT AT: [New York Times]
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