Johanna was born in Germany and was discovered to be deaf at the age of 3. She graduated from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in May 2014. She had an internship at Armstrong Flight Research Center in summer 2013 and was hired as a full-time engineer in June 2014. As an aerospace flight systems engineer, she has performed several roles such as system integration engineer for SubsoniC Research Aircraft Testbed (SCRAT) project on Gulfstream III 804 maintaining/working with the instrumentation systems and as a software developer for developing and testing the Cruise Motor Controller (CMC) software and several Graphical User Interface (GUI) test tools for the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) on X-57 Maxwell. She has supported several small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) activities. She currently works on X-59, NASA’s quiet supersonic X-plane. Her duty is to, in a nutshell, research, design, develop, code, test, maintain, evaluate, and operate aircraft systems while working with the team to solve challenges. On April 4, 2017, Johanna became the first deaf engineer to carry out an active role in a NASA control center during a crewed research flight. During her daily life she uses her sense of humor whenever possible and in her spare time she crochets, quilts, makes jewelries, plays video games, walks outdoors, bakes sweets occasionally to feed her coworkers, and hangs out with friends and family.
