Parrish Nelson Hirasaki

If you want to know more about the engineer who is driving this effort to examine the possibility of a link between prenatal ultrasounds and the worldwide increase in autism spectrum diseases –

Parrish Nelson Hirasaki has succeeded as an engineer, executive and entrepreneur. She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from Duke University and while working in the space program earned an MSME from the University of Houston.

In the first years of her career, Parrish played a key role in the Apollo 13 rescue. She used thermal analysis to identify the safe entry corridor for the damaged capsule. Her most recent engineering work was that of Operations Lead of the Space Shuttle Damage Assessment Team. After the 2003 Shuttle disaster, she was one of the thermal experts hired to develop new analysis models. During the three decades in between her stints in aerospace, Parrish worked in industrial instrumentation where her experience included vibration and thermal analysis and calibration of electronic devices.

Parrish held a number of management positions for Fortune 500 companies including Director of Sales for North America and U.S. General Manager. She founded a successful industrial instrumentation company and sold it to become a business speaker, columnist and author.

Contact Parrish at parrish@alumni.duke.edu.