Who I am - words that describe me:
As a teenager, someone once asked me to pick my favorite color and then choose two or three words that describe that color. My favorite color is green, that was easy. The three adjectives I chose were bright, alive and everywhere. I was thinking about green as the color of nature in Southeastern Pennsylvania, as the color of things alive. Trees are green, grass is green, plants are alive, and they virtually cover the land. My friend then proceeded to tell me that my answer revealed how I saw myself. (There's more to this amateur psychoanalysis at the end of the page, if you're interested.) Despite the hokeyness of such childhood anecdotes, I was and still am surprised at how it rang true. I like to maintain a positive attitude (bright). I make an effort to maintain my health; I want to live a long time and enjoy it (alive). And I try to tackle a lot of things, sometimes too many things at the same time, in an effort to pack a lot of experience into one lifetime (everywhere).

I subscribe to the familiar "sound mind, sound body " philosophy, and would add: sound spirit. I believe all the parts (intellect, physiology, and emotions) have to be healthy in order for the whole person to be healthy. And I work at keeping them healthy.

My personal challenges:
One of my current challenges is to obtain a Ph.D. in engineering from Stanford University. That is a challenge in itself, but doing it while working and maintaining a family is quite a different sort of challenge.

Parenting has been a rewarding challenge. There are things I experienced as a child that I don't want my children to experience, and vice versa, there are things I never experienced that I want for my children. It's a challenge to try and achieve that balance. My aunt recently said: "There are times when I walk past a mirror and catch a glimpse of myself, and think: How did my mother's body get attached to my head? Or I answer my children without thinking and then wonder: How did my mother's voice get inside my throat?" Having three children gives me insight to the challenges my own parents (and others) faced with eight children.

Lastly, with so little time, it's a challenge to keep physically fit these days. I've set various physical fitness challenges for myself over the years. I've been into field hockey, basketball, soccer, ballet, jogging, cycling, free weights, and swimming. Just having come off a vacation on the Eastern shore, I would like to learn to surf. Perhaps while I'm in Florida during the Challenge Project .....

My career challenges:
My post-secondary education has been in bioengineering and mechanical engineering. I've worked on projects in the areas of orthopedic research, space suits, chemical engineering, programming and analysis, human research and educational outreach (like the Challenge Project). Changing focus over the years, as I do when one project ends and another begins, is a welcome challenge. Changing focus from day to day or hour to hour while maintaining several projects at once is more difficult to do. But I do it because I enjoy learning about all these different topics, and I enjoy the company of my co-workers. My days are busy and fun.

If there were one thing I could change about my work situation, I'd put 10 hours in each work day so I could accomplish more. Then I'd put 72 hours in each day to make more time for fun..

Influences:
Somebody with a very strong code of ethics ....

Future goals:
To finish the current phase of my education during this century so I can decide what the next one will be.
To travel more, to see more of this country and others.
To have an engineering number named after me: the Luna number, like the Reynold's number or Nusselt number.
To fully understand the human body and why it sometimes doesn't work as it should.
To win the Nobel Prize for medicine. Or journalism. Or peace.
To leave this life only after I've finished what I set out to do (note: I always have 'work-in-progress' and the list never gets shorter)

My thoughts about space exploration:
The resources of our planet are not limitless. I think some day, very far in the future and probably not in my lifetime, we will NEED to exist in a different place or at least in a different way. By traveling to space we learn: 1) how to extend our limited resources here on Earth; 2) where we or others might live or have lived at another point in time; and 3) LOTS about how the human body works and how other living things exist that we might not otherwise come to know. I think space exploration and the knowledge we gain from it are beneficial to our everyday lives.

Personal information:
I have three children and one husband. Or should I say one husband and three children, that's the order in which I received them. Dozens of friends I don't see often enough. No pets yet.

*Below are the remaining three questions and their childhood interpretations. These interpretations are not grounded in any sort of fact; just a silly little thing teenagers tell each other for amusement.
    2. Name your favorite animal and pick three adjectives to describe it.
    3. Name your favorite type of body of water (ocean, lake, waterfall, etc) and pick three adjectives to describe it
    4. Close your eyes, picture yourself in a room, an all-white room, with no doors and no windows. Choose three adjectives to describe how you feel.

� The chosen adjectives are supposed to reveal:
    2. The traits you look for in a spouse
    3. Your feelings about sexual relationships
    4. Your feelings about death and/or 'the afterlife'