Lucy Simon Rakov

Lucy Simon Rakov
NCWIT Pioneer in Tech Award Recipient

Lucy Simon Rakov has had a lifelong passion for mathematics, winning awards for math in high school and going on to obtain a math degree from Wellesley College. In 1960, one year after her graduation, she took a job with IBM as a member of the NASA Project Mercury Space Computing Team. This team of 100 mathematicians (eleven of whom were women) created the first flight tracking system that used real-time data from a space capsule to calculate a flight pattern and manage a space mission. 

Rakov worked on other space missions with IBM, including the NASA Apollo project, before going back to school at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She then founded her own information technology business, Lucy Systems, Inc. (LSI), which she ran for 27 years. LSI provided information management consulting services for small businesses in the knowledge-based services sector. Rakov appreciated the flexibility of entrepreneurship, which  allowed her to make time for both her family and her career.

Other Profiles you might like

A headshot of Sarayu Sundar wearing a blue and orange floral pattered top and smiling toward the camera in front of a blurred background

Sarayu Sundar, Ph.D.

Dr. Sarayu Sundar serves as a Higher Education Research Associate with the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) at the University of Colorado

Read More »
A headshot of Mary Bell wearing a yellow top and smiling into the camera in front of a light background.

Mary Bell, MBA

As a Workforce Alliance Relationship Manager Consultant for NCWIT, Mary partners with organizations to leverage NCWIT’s vast array of services and programs to meet their

Read More »

Willow Peluso

Willow Peluso (she/her) is the Project Coordinator for NCWIT Counselors for Computing. She is dedicated to advocating for Women & LGBTQ+ inclusivity and creating diverse

Read More »
Scroll to Top