Well, when I was told to write a bit about myself for incorporation into the system, I thought, "My god, these people don't know me that well." My thought was that you'd need all the space available in a 1-gigabyte hard drive and the processing power of a Pentium to include all that. You see, I'm a Blaha. Carolyn Blaha to be exact. We're not exactly known for our brevity. My father, the astronaut currently housed on Mir, also has this disease. We think there must be a Blaha talking gene. So, I'll TRY to be brief.

Who am I?

Who am I? I guess I could give the usual answers here and then proceed to the more bizarre. I'm a biochemistry student at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, currently in my third senior year preparing to graduate with not one job prospect on the horizon. (I'm interviewing this week, so everybody wish me luck.) I'm 23 years old. I have a house, a dog, and two roommates (Brett and Bill) who keep me on my toes. I run an outrageous schedule at this university. I AM a student, although you wouldn't think so considering the amount of time I spend being a student. I am also a TA (teaching assistant, for those of you who don't know this jargon) for an entry-level biology class. I work for both the Dean of Students office (taking notes for students with disabilities) and a campus business office. I am also currently actively going about a job search. And in my spare time, I like to keep groceries in my cabinet and so forth. Needless to say, I'm a bit busy in a general sense (and in a specific sense as well).

I am a person that enjoys life to its fullest. I don't mind taking time out of my schedule to smell the roses, as the cliché goes. I figure that the work will be there whether I am or not. Of course, this may lend to the fact that I'm still at this university five and a half years after I got here. You see, I just can't take my hands off chances to go halfway around the world and live like a vagabond (I backpacked around New Zealand for a few months). So, such is life.

My Future Plans and Goals

My major motivation in life is simply to move forward. People tell me that scholarship holders at a major university should have bigger goals, but what do they know? If I actually became stagnant in my beliefs or my life in general, I should think there would be no worse fate. Now, my strong belief in my ability to do so comes from my faith in God found through the Catholic Church. There is no stronger force than God to make sure everything is taken care of for me. So I just don't worry. I stay happy.

My major plans after college are rather simple. Take a job, and decide where I want to go after that. I've flirted with the idea of starting up a biotechnology business, but I don't know yet. We'll see. Well, enough about me, let's go on to something else.

Do you plan to pursue a career in the space program like your father?

My involvement to date has been two-fold. One is through my father. He's the major focal point. We moved to Houston when my father joined the astronaut office in 1980 (I was 7 years old). I've watched the Space Shuttle program go through the first Shuttle lift-off to the Mir missions. It's quite an awesome sight to behold. I grew up right along with the program. I probably know more than most people about every detail of ascent, as my father was more than happy to answer in detail any questions I had about the Orbiter. He's a brilliant man who has worked very hard to understand that vehicle far and above where he needed to. My father has never stopped at "need," he's always gone on to want. So, through four Shuttle Missions (STS-29, STS-33, STS-43, and STS-58), two of which he commanded, and now this Mir mission, I have seen my father's true character come out. He is infinitely kind and considerate. He demands people's time, but he'll give it back ten-fold. He's never too busy to sit down with a colleague (if I spelled that right) and help them out. He's never too busy to let you know how much you mean to him or how much you help him out (inside and outside the Space Program). In fact, there are so many things I could say about my father that I'm not going to list anymore. Okay, maybe one: he's very modest about his accomplishments. If you ever met him on the street, you'd never know what he does. He certainly wouldn't tell you.

My other involvement in the Space Program has been through internships. I've worked for KRUG Life Sciences, IBM, and Martin Marietta (now Lockheed-Martin). I've had a fun time being just a small part in a very large organization. It's an eye-opener. The Space Program now has my respect on a professional level. I truly understand the complexity of the Program, how many man-hours it takes to accomplish these missions, and how much this Space Program is in its mere infancy. Every time I see a Shuttle lift off, I think it's a miracle. That all these people I work with (and many I've never heard of) have made this possible fills me with a great sense of accomplishment for them. This is indeed a tough challenge they have undertaken, and I know they will meet it with open arms.

I would consider it a great loss if we ever stopped the initiative to push forward and the momentum that is carrying the Space Program to new technologies and new prospects every time there is a mission. Well, if truth be known, I would like to see the day that a person can land on another planet. If we can put forth the effort (an effort I believe must be undertaken with the people all over this planet), we will succeed. And if we can pull together to succeed at such a feat, I know that we can accomplish anything (and that includes taking care of ourselves and the wonderful world we've been given).

Advice

I LOVE science. I can't get enough of it. I don't think there is anything I would rather be involved in. I did a summer research project once. When the results finally came in, I was the first in the WORLD to know this piece of information. What a wonderful feeling that was! It was now MY job to tell everybody else. The life sciences have always drawn me to them. To think that I can study the wonders of life, its complexities, and all it has to offer. There are infinite choices in this line of work. I could go anywhere with my biochemistry/molecular biology. Biology as a whole is a science just at its infancy, and it is expanding dramatically. What an exciting time to be alive and in the midst of so much discovery! I couldn't be anywhere else. Science is not for everybody, but if it piques your imagination, you ought to run with it. It will never disappoint you to run after your dreams. It's a rich field with high rewards on a level that no amount of money could ever give you. Go for it.