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Linda S. Bangert
My NASA title is "Aerospace Technologist," and my degrees are in Aeronautical
Engineering, but I would characterize what I do as "Aeronautical Research
Engineer", so take your pick! My specialty is understanding the effects
of integrating the propulsion system with the aircraft. I do this by testing
airplane models in wind tunnels and simulating the jet engine exhaust with
high pressure air. Until recently, most of my work was on military fighter
and attack airplanes in the "transonic" speed range, which means near the
speed of sound (the speed of sound is about 761 miles per hour at sea level).
Now, I'm also testing future supersonic passenger airliners at take-off
and landing speeds (around 180 miles per hour).
Part of what makes the job of a research engineer so interesting is that
it has many phases which require different skills - planning a project,
conceptual design of the test and wind tunnel model, testing the model,
reporting of the results, and planning follow-up work. At any given time,
I'm probably doing some of each of those things on several different projects.
I really enjoy the variety that this type of work offers.
I've always been interested in airplanes, probably because my father was
a flight instructor in World War II and a private pilot afterward. I actually
started college intending to get a degree in astronomy, but I discovered
that meant working all night, so I switched to aeronautical engineering.
The cosmic joke is that the electricity requirements for a large transonic
wind tunnel mean working all night as well! I always loved all sorts of
science, but I thought of math as "just a tool". My best subject was always
English, and I think that it helped me a lot, because good communication,
written and verbal, is so important no matter what your job is. Also, being
good at English left me the time I needed to work harder on the math.
None of the career guidance tests I took in high school said that I should
be either an astronomer or an engineer, but I ignored them and did what
I wanted to do. However, it wasn't until late high school when I attended
an "Engineer's Night" program that the local engineering societies hosted
that I discovered there were so many different types of engineering careers.
I was lucky enough to be in junior high and high school at a time when all
sorts of opportunities for women were opening up. It was an exciting time
when we were encouraged to believe we could do anything and have it all.
The realities of balancing work and family are a little trickier than we
were led to believe, but it can be done, and workplaces are adjusting to
make that balance a little easier to achieve. It can be intimidating to
be the "first woman" to do something, and there are still many times when
I find that I'm the only woman in a technical meeting. However, I've found
that if you do your job well and try to get along with your peers, you're
accepted as part of the team.
When I'm not at work, my time is spent with my husband and daughter. My
husband and I are both private pilots, and we own and fly a Cessna 170 which
was built in 1949. When I find the time, I also enjoy reading mysteries
and science fiction.
Archive of chats with Linda: To find out about other brilliant women involved in Aerospace careers, please see another one of our cool NASA Quest projects: Aero Design Team Online
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