For West Virginia Engineer, Home Is Where the Heart Is… and NASA, Too

On Monday, August 10, 2026, NASA's Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility (IV&V) in Fairmont, West Virginia, celebrated the swearing-in of 51 new employees as part of Administrator Jared Isaacman's initiative to bolster NASA's technical expertise. Growing up in Grafton, West Virginia, Fletcher Newell developed an early fascination with space exploration, inspired by his love for Star Wars and science fiction.

This interest intensified when he attended a NASA facility field trip during his fourth-grade year, which he had not previously encountered. Nearly a decade later, Newell and 48 of his fellow colleagues were inducted as NASA civil servants at the same facility during a swearing-in ceremony. Fletcher Newell recounted feeling enamored with NASA from a distance, only to discover its impactful work right in his hometown.

His journey into the world of programming began in high school, where he taught himself coding skills to develop basic scripts on his graphing calculator. As his skills progressed, he delved into popular software applications, learning their inner workings and devising his own programs. Fascinated by artificial intelligence, Newell embarked on a high school internship with IV&V in 2019, where he created a database for engineering methods.

This internship ignited his passion for NASA, leading him to pursue a computer science degree at Stanford University. During his time at Stanford, Newell focused on AI and machine learning, particularly specializing in AI safety as spacecraft autonomy became a growing concern. His research culminated in two publications, and he worked on projects assessing the safety of Terrain Relative Navigation for spacecraft landing on planetary surfaces.

Upon graduating, Newell returned to West Virginia to work at IV&V full-time, where he contributes to mission safety and security, identifying and resolving system defects and vulnerabilities for spacecraft such as Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom, Orion, Gateway, and the Human Landing System. His efforts have earned him the prestigious title of IV&V Engineer of the Year in 2025.

As Newell embarks on his role as a civil servant, he looks forward to expanding his responsibilities, particularly contributing to NASA's return to the Moon.