Carolyn Krumrey

An average day at the office starts at 7:30 a.m. I try to read all of my email and review my calendar and tasks that are due before my regular 8:00 a.m. meeting. The rest of the day is filled with additional meetings, email and phone calls. One of the main functions in my job is communicating with others. I spend the majority of my day communicating in one way or another, either through email or verbally. With the dynamic environment at NASA, it always seems that there are so many things to do. There are never enough hours in the day to accomplish all of the tasks, so the trick is to find a balance between my work and my personal life.

The most exciting thing about my job is watching the Space Shuttle launch. I have had the opportunity to watch several launches at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There is nothing like watching the speed of the Space Shuttle as it clears the launch pad and head towards space. Feeling the shock wave hit you a few seconds after launch is really awesome! The other most enjoyable part is being able to work with a diverse group of extremely smart people.

I attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. When I first went to college I wanted to major in Interior Design. Within a week of starting college, I switched from Interior Design to Mechanical Engineering. It was a radical change. There were two main reasons I changed my major. The first was that my courses didn't seem challenging, and the second was that I wanted a degree that would help me obtain a well-paying job. After being out of college for 10 years, I went back to school to obtain a Master's in Environmental Management from the University of Houston - Clear Lake. The majority of the courses for my Bachelor's focused on math and engineering, and the majority of my Master's courses focused on writing and communicating with others in a team environment. This has been important in my career because I now spend the majority of my time at work writing and communicating. I feel it is really important to be able to write well and have good communication skills.

Unfortunately, the teachers in my High School never encouraged women to pursue non-traditional careers related to math and science, so when I went to college I didn't know all of the options available to me. Changing majors was the best thing I ever did. I was not encouraged by my High School teachers or my parents to pursue a degree in Engineering. When I started college in 1979, there were not many women in the field of engineering. Today, there are more women entering the science and engineering fields but not enough. I feel that young women have a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience to contribute to the engineering, science and technology fields. Today, there are so many opportunities for young women, and I definitely want to encourage as many young women as I can to enter these fields.

When I was a young girl, my mother had the biggest influence on me. She was my role model and my best friend. I always used her as my sounding board for my ideas and thoughts. She didn't always provide me with advice; however, she was always there to listen. She also encouraged me to be independent. A career in engineering has allowed me to be independent because I can always find a good paying job in which to support myself. It is a terrific feeling not to have to depend on someone else to take care of me.

There are a lot of advantages to my job. The main one is that there is something different occurring every day. Every day there are new challenges and opportunities. There are new technical issues that come up almost daily which have to be addressed so we can launch the next Space Shuttle. I never have the opportunity to be bored with my job. The other advantage to my job is that it allows me to spend time tutoring and mentoring students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology. NASA encourages employees to be active in the local schools. I have spent at least 6 hours a month participating in activities at the local schools. This participation allows me to influence young people and make their education more valuable for them.

Some of the obstacles that I have overcome in my job are being able to work in a male dominated field. When I first started working, I was one of two young female engineers out of 40 young male engineers to begin working at General Dynamics in San Diego, California. Because I was new to San Diego, I didn't have very many young female friends that I could spend time with discussing work. Now, things have really changed, and I have lots of female friends who are in science and engineering. This really helps me when I need a friend to bounce ideas off of. Other women in the same field can be terrific sounding boards.

When I am not working, I spend a lot of time with my husband, family, friends and my two cats. My husband and I enjoy sports and exercise, so we try to spend as much time as we can pursuing those activities. Last year I ran my first half marathon, 13.1 miles, which was a great accomplishment for me. We spend a lot of time at the athletic club lifting weights and doing aerobic exercise. My husband and I try to spend as much time outdoors as we can when we are not working. We love to hike, bike, run and ski. Since my husband grew up in northern Idaho and Alaska, we try to go snow skiing at least once a year. We also love to travel and try to take at least four trips a year.

If you decide to choose a career in engineering, science or the technology fields, there will be so many opportunities available to you. If you are in a particular job and you don't enjoy it, don't hesitate to change jobs. I have not stayed in a job more than two years. I am constantly changing jobs to ensure that I am always learning new skills. This is one of the great things about engineering; there are so many jobs available to you that you can always do different things. Study hard in your math and science courses. There is a world of opportunities available just for you!