#SoCaltech: Aaron Yazzie — Caltech Magazine

Aaron Yazzie photo inset atop an animated version of himself appearing in the Netflix show Spirit Rangers

“I loved being part of [Spirit Rangers] because it’s not something I usually get to do. A lot of what I do is very technical, but this allowed me to share the excitement of STEM research through outreach, and especially to share with Native American communities and the Navajo community I came from. That’s something I care deeply about. I’ve had a really strong response from my home community—not just because they’re excited to see someone who looks like them and is a NASA engineer but because they get to see one of their own on a Netflix show. They get to see themselves, and that representation matters.”

—Mechanical engineer and Navajo Aaron Yazzie voiced his own likeness for the Netflix animated children’s streaming show Spirit Rangers, in which he helps the young Native American protagonists understand how failure can sometimes drive progress in science. His appearance in the second season’s third episode, “Spirit Rangers Blast Off,” was recently featured in the Navajo Times, which explained how he landed the role. Yazzie works at JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA.

#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.