National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fields began her career with NOAA in 1972 as a civilian
cartographer at NOAA's Atlantic Marine Center in
Norfolk, Virginia. At that time, women were not allowed on NOAA's ships, but she did participate in shore-based research parties for data collection. She was then selected for and attended the
Armed Forces Staff College to study
hydrography. In 1997, Fields became the acting deputy director of NOAA's National Ocean Service, where she improved and streamlined the nautical chart making process. With new technology, Fields doubled the rate of chart production and cut the time to update a nautical chart from 47 weeks to 4 weeks. Fields was the first woman, and first
African American, to hold this position. While serving in the roles as both director of the NOAA Corps and the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, she was responsible for NOAA's fleet of 15 research vessels, 14 aircraft, and over 700 commissioned NOAA Corp officers and civilians. After the exchange program, she was responsible for reviewing, critiquing, and determining whether the hydrographic survey data submitted by Atlantic Marine Center field units was complete and adequate for final acceptance into the processing system. Afterward, as assignment coordinator for the Office of NOAA Corps Operations, she worked with all program areas of NOAA, providing sound advice to both programs and officers regarding officer assignments. Rear Admiral Fields retired 1 December 2003. ==Awards and honors==