Q&A Session with Maria Bualat

Q: Do you feel that if your home had not been encouraging, or your school had
   been more male oriented, that you would have gone as far as you have?

A: It's hard to say how things might have turned out if circumstances had 
   been different when I was growing up.  My parents weren't really actively
   encouraging when I was a child, that is, they never pushed me to do 
   well in school or to follow any particular path, but they weren't 
   discouraging either and they often praised me when I did well on my 
   own.  As far as my parents were concerned, I was free to pursue  
   whatever interested me and I was pretty much self-motivating.  On the 
   other hand, I think one of the reasons I enjoyed school so much is 
   that I basked in the praise and approval of my  teachers.  If I'd gone 
   to a school that was more male oriented where I  might not have 
   received as much attention, I might have become frustrated and given up.


Q: Did you ever have doubts about pursuing your career?

A: Not really.  There were times in college when I would occasionally have a
   difficult time in a class and would wonder if I was really cut out for 
   this career, but I'd always manage to muddle through with a decent 
   grade and continue with my degree.  Recently I've thought that I 
   should have gone more into computer science than electrical 
   engineering, but they are both highly technical and related fields.  
   If I wanted to learn more about computer science now, it would fit 
   very smoothly into my current body of knowledge and would enhance my 
   job skills.


Q: Can you describe a problem you are working to solve, i.e., an example 
   of an actual project?

A: One of the projects I'm working on right now is the development of fiber 
   optic transition sensors.  Scientists and engineers in aeronautics are 
   very interested in how air flows over the wings of an airplane.  There 
   are two types of air flow -- laminar flow, which is very smooth, and 
   turbulent flow,which is very chaotic and rough.  The location on the 
   wing at which the airflow changes from laminar to turbulent, the 
   "transition", determines a lot of things about the performance of the 
   aircraft.  I am working with another scientist to develop sensors made 
   out of fiber optic lines that will be able to determine exactly where 
   the transition occurs.


Q: Do major changes in your varying schedule disrupt your lifestyle?

A: They haven't so far, but that may change.  Until recently, I was single 
   and my free-time activities were very flexible.  With the exception of 
   the art classes I'm taking -- which are only for fun anyway -- and 
   aerobics classes, none of my hobbies require that I be somewhere at a 
   certain time or that I spend a set amount of time on them.  So if I 
   occasionally had to work late or on a weekend, it was no problem.  Now, 
   however, I'm in a serious relationship.

   Since my boyfriend is currently working two jobs and going to school 
   in the evenings, and I work, teach aerobics and take classes in the 
   evenings, the time we can spend together is somewhat limited, so I 
   think I'd now find overtime more of an imposition.


Q: How do you balance free time with your work, especially with lab work or
   experiments that may last into late shifts?

A: I've been lucky in that not many of my projects have required 
   over-time, so usually my free time is my own.  Occasionally I have to 
   put in some extra time to meet a deadline and come in on a weekend, 
   but that happens so rarely that it really doesn't bother me.  The main 
   thing is that I enjoy my job, so occasionally trading work for free 
   time is fine.  Also, I try to put my job behind me when I go home at 
   the end of the day and try to immerse myself in whatever I'm doing,  
   whether it's an art class, a movie, a good book, or a conversation 
   with a good friend.


Q: Do you do any other Indian crafts?

A: No.  I started using an Indian bead loom a few years ago when I became
   interested in beadwork.  I thought it would be interesting to use a
   traditional Indian technique to make jewelry, but to use motifs from many
   different cultures in the designs.  I've used designs that reflected 
   Celtic, ancient Greek, Asian, Zuni and Aztec art, along with a few 
   designs that were completely off the top of my own head.


Q: What are some ideas you have for us about improving female enrollment in 
   math and science classes and careers?

A: I think the first thing we need to do is educate the teachers and 
   parents of young girls and make them aware of how they sometimes 
   subtly undermine the girls' confidence in their math abilities, often 
   without realizing that they are doing so.  I've seen studies that have 
   shown that teachers of coed classes tend to call on boys for answers 
   to math and science questions more often than they call on girls.  
   Some of the same studies have shown that parents consistently 
   underestimate their daughters' math abilities and overestimate
   their sons'.  I think programs that would help boost the 
   self-confidence and self-esteem of young women are very important. 
   Once these young women have confidence in themselves and in their 
   abilities, those that have an affinity for math and the sciences will 
   naturally move towards those fields.


Q: What is your opinion on whether we should push for all female math 
   classes?

A: I don't think that all female math classes are necessary if teachers of 
   coed math classes are made aware of tendencies to call more on boys 
   than girls and can change the habit.  I have personally experienced 
   both types of math classes since I went to a coed grade school and an 
   all-female high school.  I never noticed any lack of attention from my 
   teachers, but since I had been put in accelerated math classes in the 
   first, second and third grades, my confidence in my abilities in math 
   remained high.


Q: What are the biggest drawbacks?

A: One of the biggest drawbacks of being an engineer is that I don't 
   always get to do engineering.  Sometimes I have to spend a lot of time 
   taking care  of the paperwork, and working for the government means a 
   lot of  paperwork.  I'm hoping that President Clinton and Vice 
   President Gore's attempt to "reinvent government" will reduce some of 
   the bureaucracy.


Q: What is very inspiring about your work?

A: I get to work on many different projects, many of which  involve 
   "cutting-edge" technology, that is, technology that is very new and not 
   yet generally used in industry.  Also, some of the projects I work on are 
   intended for use in some very exotic places, like on the moon, on Mars, 
   or in outer space.  Even as a little girl I was interested in astronomy 
   and outer space, so for me, it is very inspiring to be able to work on 
   things that are meant to be used in space.


Q: What do you find the most rewarding in this kind of work?

A: One of the most rewarding things about my job is that I'm constantly 
   learning new things.  Often, when I start working on a new project, I 
   have to do a lot of reading and background research to become familiar 
   with the new project.
   It's kept alive within me a desire to learn that I hope lasts 
   throughout my lifetime.