Role Models

Name:
Wendlyn

Title:
I think I belong in "Wild Cards" --

Have changed careers several times and all have 
Been adventurous. Some of these include:

Electrical engineer in a coal mine -- designed a new
   power system (a college summer job)

NASA research scientist growing crystals in low gravity
   Space Shuttle experiments (I got to fly on the 
   KC-135 low-gravity simulation aircraft, where you
   experience weightlessness during free-fall! It's
   a way of testing concepts and equipment before
   flying them on the Shuttle.)

NASA Metallic Materials Engineer -- I worked on the 
   Failure Analysis team for the Challenger explosion,
   helped design the laboratory chemical waste management 
   system for the Space Station, and won an award for 
   "Most Promising Patent of the Year" for a way to cast
   better superalloys for Space Shuttle turbine blades. 

Freelance Website Designer and Computer Graphics Artist

Writer -- published numerous nonfiction articles

Currently working with a company that writes software
   for aircraft flight simulators so that the student
   sits in a cockpit just like the real one, operates 
   the controls and sees on the screen exactly what she 
   WOULD see if she were flying an actual plane. It's 
   like the world's most incredible "video game" but it's
   for serious training.

And I am currently learning multimedia, digital video,
   internet technology, and virtual reality, to use for
   training and educational applications (and hopefully
   for fun, too!)
 

Path:
As a kid, I got interested in how fireworks are 
designed (it's really very amazing!) which led to
a major in chemistry. 

...Then got interested in the chemistry of
semiconductor materials and the process of designing
and fabricating integrated circuits (as used in 
computer chips), so went back to school and studied
Electrical Engineering. Some of the professors in 
that department made it very hard on female students,
so I double-majored in Computer Science because 
those professors were much younger and more 
enlightened, and women were welcome in that field.

Then I went to work for NASA, first as a scientist
in low-gravity materials processing (e.g. solidifying
crystals, electroplating, anything that might yield
a better product if gravity were not there to 
interfere). After a few years I got a Master's degree
in Materials Engineering and transferred to the
Metallic Materials division as an engineer and 
worked on the Space Shuttle and Space Station design.

(Materials Engineering includes such areas as 
metallurgy, ceramics & glass, polymers and plastics.
For some reason a higher percentage of women go into
this field than some of the older engineering fields.)

After nearly nine years, I left NASA and became a 
freelance Website designer. I had become a little
tired of engineering and wanted to get into computers
and communications. Now I'm learning computer simulation
and getting ready to move into the field of digital
multimedia and virtual reality. I seem to need frequent
change to keep me fresh and interested. I love
adventure and learning, and never want to stop as 
long as I live.


Comments:
At first, college was a struggle -- my study
habits were not good and I didn't know how to learn.
I was put on scholastic probation my freshman year. 
One professor told me I "just don't have what it takes!" 
That infuriated me and I vowed to show him. As you see, 
I proved him wrong. 

Never let ANYBODY convince you can't do something. 
Even if your track record has been poor, you can change 
that at any time if you put your heart into it. After
I learned some good study tricks, I got straight A's 
from that time forward and have received many honors
and awards.

The most important thing, though, is to have FUN!
Do what you love! Don't be afraid to take risks and
try something new! The more you love what you're 
doing, the better you'll do it. The more different 
things you do, the better you'll do all of them --
because in this day and age, a broad base of 
knowledge and experience is the only way to surf
into a future which is changing faster every day. 
What you know is important, but not nearly as 
important as how well you learn to learn. Stay open, 
stay fresh, keep on growing, go for it!