Name: Bridget Landry
Title: Sequence Virtual Team Lead, Cassini Mission to Saturn
Company: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Contact Info:
kriketbml@juno.com
How I arrived at my present job (academic and other influences): A combination of blind luck, good training, and networking. I applied for my current job (Cassini) in the blind (sort of; a transfer within the company, but I only knew one or two people on the new project). I got my last job (Mars Pathfinder) because someone I knew on a previous job had suggested my name to her boss. The job before that (Topex) was again a within-the-company-transfer and I knew absolutely no one at that job before I got it. And in the one before that, my first in this field (Hubble), I was hired by a professor I had known in grad school.
How I organize my day: mostly around meetings; Cassini is a very large project, with personel spread from Europe to California, and a great deal of coordination is required to keep us all on the same page. Email, voicemail, conference calling, faxes, even video conferencing are all used to make sure them as needs to know things are kept informed. Around the meetings, I work on coding up the sequences (a sequence is a set of commands that are sent to the spacecraft and executed from the onboard memory at specified times; these are distinct from realtime commands, which are sent from the ground and executed as soon as they are received. Our sequences currently cover about 8 weeks at a time; during tour (time in orbit at Saturn), they will be about 35 days long.) that are currently being used on the spacecraft, and (a little) on developing the plans we will use when we actually get to Saturn in 2004. I have also been involved in some Y2K testing, and in testing a new data base system we will be changing over to later this year.
Amount of time spent working daily (at home and office): Usually work an 8 hour day; however, if there are activities on the spacecraft, I may not only have to work longer hours, but weird shifts. (On Pathfinder, once we landed, I worked 12-14 hour days, starting at sundown at the landing site on Mars (about 11 p.m. in Pasadena on landing day). Since Mars' day is 24 hr, 40 min, this made for some really strange shifts.) Also, if there is an anomoly (problem) on the spacecraft, I may have to come in in the middle of the night, and work very long days until it is understood and fixed.
What I do to get myself thinking creatively: At work, I don't have much problem with this. Because most of the people I work with have more of an engineering, rather than a science, background, I'm always somewhat skew with respect to my co-workers. I find this valuable, as it allows me to see things in "engineer" blind spots, while they see what is in my "science" blind spots.
At home, I do a great deal of sewing, particularly making costumes, both historical and science fiction. I wear these to science fiction conventions, costuming conventions, historical balls, historical re-enactments, Renaissance Faires, etc. I find this very rewarding, both as a source of a very concrete product to show for my work, and because it poses very different challenges than my work does. Besides, it's fun to play-act, and I love to dance. (25+ years of dance training, including ballet, jazz and theater dance.)
My problem-solving strategy: Not sure I really have one. The ones that come to mind come from Heinlein ("When you don't know how to solve a problem, do any part of it you do understand, then look at it again.") and an old science teacher, ("If you don't know how to solve a problem, do a dimensional analysis--what units does the answer need to be in, what are the units of the values you're given, and what constants would you need to convert the latter to the former?").
What I do to relieve stress: I guess I answered that one above.....
I am looking into learning to meditate, as that can be done at work. Also, I read (mostly science fiction, but some history, some self-improvement, recently a book on investing).
This may sound silly and girly, but when I know I'm going to have a particularly boring or stressful meeting, I wear a nice silk scarf. I find that having something tactilely (sp?) pleasureable to "pet" during such a meeting is calming. Same goes for having painted fingernails. Weird, but there it is.
My hero, mentor, or person I most admire and why: It's changed, over the years. When I was a kid (through my teens), I admired Star Trek's Mr. Spock, (he was so smart! And he never let his emotions run away with him, the way "girls" are always accused of) and many of the characters created by Robert Heinlein (strong, intelligent female role models, as well as many men who treated women well). Later, I admired professors in graduate school (not the best way to go, as it turns out). Currently, I look up to Donna Shirley, who ran the developement of the rover project for Mars Pathfinder, and is a very intelligent, kick-ass kind of woman. Also, I admire the work of Lois McMaster Bujold and Elizabeth Moon, science fiction writers whose characters are very real, valuable, competent people. Following them through their trials and tribulations has helped me through my own.
What I do to mentor those who work for me: I try to listen to what they say and ask, not to what I expect them to say or ask. Also, whether I'm teaching them to sew or to use a compter program, I make them do the mechanics of it, rather than doing it for them (if at all possible). Giving tasks in small enough peices is also important, rather than laying something out from beginning to end, and expecting them to be able to remember and follow it, in order, correctly. And lastly, giving people a context for the information I'm imparting: "We do this because....." That aids memory, understanding, and allows them to suggest improvements and/or corrections, because they understand the whys.
How a negative event changed my life in a positive way:
One event or decision in my life I wish I could go back and change: Wish I hadn't left graduate school. I needed more support against the male culture, and was unable to hold my own against it without such support. I think such support existed, or I could have built it, if I had been more secure as a person.
What values are the most important to me and what I value in others: Honesty and justice/fairness are extremely important to me, both in my actions and in how others deal with me. I greatly admire intelligence and a certain flexibility in looking at things, often called "thinking outside the box".
What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily basis: What can I say? Projects that I have worked on go into space, go to other planets! It's what I've wanted to do since I saw Star Trek and the moon landings when I was a kid. What can be more exciting than stretching the frontiers of human knowledge?!
I also love the chance to pass this excitement on to others, especially young girls, and let them know that they can do what I do.
Biography:
Education:
B.A., Chemistry, UC San Diego, 1984; minors in Engineering Science and
Psychology
M.S., Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, 1986; research
projects: analyzing images of the south polar cap of Mars; performing
experiments on spark-induced reactions in the gas phase
Experience:
Wide-Field and Planetary Camera I (WF/PC I) team, Hubble Space Telescope
Sequence Integration Engineer, Topex (joint US/ESA oceanographic Earth-orbiter)
Deputy Uplink System Engineer, Mars Pathfinder Project
Sequence Virtual Team Lead, Cassini Mission to Saturn
Goals:
I'd like to get back to working on Mars, both because that's the planet I'm
most
interested in, and because the Mars missions are going to be "faster, better,
cheaper" missions, which I have found that I like. Riskier, but also more
satisfying.
Web page about the Pathfinder mission: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/sso/index.html
Last Modified:
Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/bridget_landry.html