“We did science fair projects in eighth grade. So my dad and I designed an experiment to look at what cooking oil is best for cooking popcorn. Now you go to science fairs and you see this experiment everywhere. But in 1989, it was like, ‘wow, a kid who knows the scientific method!’
“I made a lot of popcorn. My poor brothers had to eat it all. I measured volume popped and how many kernels were left unpopped. But I also measured the taste factor. For example, cooking popcorn in peanut oil actually has good yield but it doesn’t taste good.
“In high school, I had this chemistry teacher named Carol Palmer. I’ll never forget her. The science fairs were really important to her. She had partnerships with laboratories in town, and through this program, I got to go to a stainless steel foundry.
“Do you know what paper machines are like? Picture giant rolls, like the size of an 18-wheeler truckbed. This place made those things. This was the early 90s, so we were just starting to recycle paper. But the machines had begun falling apart because of all the corrosive chemicals added to the mix to remove ink. I was simulating that process in the laboratory through different experiments. And I won two years in a row at the state-level science fair: I won first prize in electrochemistry and I won first prize in chemistry.
“It was all because of this teacher. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have known that materials science was a thing or that I should study it if I hadn’t had that opportunity. It really put me on course.”
— Kathleen Boggs, Systems and Technology Demonstration Manager in the International Space Station Division of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Image Credit: NASA / Joel Kowsky
Interviewer: NASA / Thalia Patrinos