Mark Leon

Mark Leon is a civil servant with NASA Ames Research Center. His primary work is in education and communication systems.

Early life
Mark Leon grew up in a rather rough East San Jose neighborhood. He originally began taking a slightly more academic route to life when he began hiding in the library from other high school students who were attempting to beat him up.

He also attended San Jose State University and won a silver medal in the 1985 Collegiate National Judo Championships He received his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering.

Communications Work
In the 1980s Mark Leon was instrumental in establishing trans-Atlantic communication between American, French and English space agencies. In the 1990s he completed the first audio/video link to Antarctica. This feat was thought to be impossible at that time.

Affiliation with FIRST Robotics
For the past several years Mark Leon has worked as a Master of Ceremonies in many FIRST robotics competition events both on and off season. He is particularly well known for wearing a bright blue NASA coat and dying his hair the same color for these events.

Robotics Alliance Project
Beginning in 1998 Mark moved to the Robotics Alliance Project at NASA Ames. This department works primarily in educational and outreach projects and was estimated in 2006 to have reached more than 100,000 middle and high school students. He also runs the Ames Robotics Academy every summer.