I’m Dr. Confused and I’m a rocket scientist.
That’s not quite true. I haven’t done any work on rockets, though I am probably relatively close to qualified to do so. I have a Doctorate of Philosophy in Aerospace Engineering. I work more on the “aero” side of things than the “space” side. As part of my undergraduate degree, I did in fact have to take one class in space propulsion (that is, rockets), and I assure you, it’s much easier than you’ve been led to believe. Aerospace engineering on the whole is not as hard as it sounds. I find it much easier, for instance, than getting a photocopier to staple my documents, or using public transit in a country in which I don’t speak the language. I’ve only been a doctor for a few months now, and frankly, nobody calls me doctor in real life, which may be why I feel compelled to use it in my handle.
I wasn’t going to tell you exactly what it is I did, but in a couple of the posts I’m planning during my guest-blogging stint here at Feministe, my area of study comes up tangentially and is hard to avoid. Just don’t use it to try to find out who I am, ok? I’m looking for a tenure-track academic job, and I don’t need potential employers finding the comments I’ve left on this blog. Not that I’m ashamed of any of the things I’ve said, but I’ve told a number of stories from my past that I wouldn’t share in a professional context.
I will be guest-blogging here for about ten days. Topics you may look forward to: sexism in our everyday professional lives, the leaky pipeline in science and engineering academia, the intersection of feminism with pregnancy and birth, gender-stereotyping of children, and whatever random thoughts come into my head during the next week.
My first substantive post will be sometime this afternoon. I’m only up right now due to pregnancy-induced mid-sleep hunger, and am hoping to get some more sleep.
Similar Posts:
- Thanks for having me by Dr. Confused October 9, 2007
- On a meta note by amandaw August 6, 2008
- Guest Blogger Introduction: Audacia Ray by Audacia Ray July 27, 2009
- Here I am by Jay November 28, 2007
- Introduction by amandaw July 27, 2008
Welcome! I’m working on my PhD right now in Electrical Engineering. It’ll be nice to hear another POV about sexism in science and engineering. I haven’t experienced too much as a female student in such a mail dominated area, but every now and then I get somebody doubting my credibility because I was born with two x chromosomes.
I worked at Kennedy Space Center for a number of years and let me assure you that what happens there is NOT rocket science!
Its funny ‘cuz its true
I find it much easier, for instance, than getting a photocopier to staple my documents,
as an administrative professional who has been making copies for TWENTY FUCKING YEARS, I can tell you with certainty that photocopiers are exponentially more complicated and aggravating than they need to be. sheesh, they can put a man on the moon ;) but I can’t get the stapler in the upper left corner parallel to the top edge?
Would it make any sense to you if I assured you that most neurosurgery isn’t rocket science either?
Holy cow! I didn’t know they could do that! I must find out what buttons do that, and then trick Certain People I Know into trying them! :)
it occurs to me that, supposedly, thousands of people are involved in model rocketry on a regular basis. whereas the number of people who regularly manage to use all (or even most of) the functions of a largish office copier…
Sweet dreams, doc!
azundris – it’s the “function” key.
Seriously, any physics where stuff is moving is to complicated for me.
I’m currently doing my PhD in civil engineering.
Looking forward to reading your guest blogs!
i’ve tried the “function” key. it must be broken; it didn’t make anything i could see perform its intended function.
Wow, these sound like great topics, looking forward to your posts.
What I’ve been waiting for! How exciting!
Hi,
It will be neat to have some feministe blogging from someone who is in the sciences. questions at the intersection of feminism and science are interesting. So, yay!
Looking forward to reading your posts, Doc.
looking forward to it! especially interested in the one on pregnancy and birth…
get some sleep!!!
My brilliant and talented niece (15) has been considering one or another of the sciences** for at least the last 5 years. I’m really looking forward to your posts on being a woman in the sciences for future reference when chatting with her. Hopefully, things are getting better enough that she’ll have an easier time in college/the real working science world than some of what I’ve heard about. *shakes head* (I’d think the guys would WANT women to be interested in and good at science/maths so that they’d have someone who could understand what they’re talking about. It certainly seems to tickle my husband that I grasp the majority of the science stuff we run into together. And yes, we are Discovery and History channel geeks. :) And no, I don’t have any sort of science degree. I just enjoy learning how things work.
Looking forward to the rest of it too!! Welcome!
** Vulconology, paleontology, archeology, and now medicine. I’m pretty sure this girl is going to end up in the sciences SOMEWHERE, but her mother needs to stop asking her if she can really handle seeing the insides of humans. *sigh* If she can’t, she’ll figure it out soon enough. For the moment, *encourage her*!!
[...] a comment to my introductory post, AJ writes: I haven’t experienced too much as a female student in such a [...]
Science and feminism are two of my favorite things :)
Looking for a tenure-track job while pregnant can’t be very fun. Academia’s craptacular attitude towards women who want families is one of the reasons I’m staying the hell away from it after I finish my Ph.D.
Tapetum, I’d be quite interested to see neurosurgery that is rocket science. Is the Space Shuttle getting a brain-in-a-jar for a CPU?
That’s one of the reasons that I didn’t finish my PhD. Stopped at MS, now I teach, and I get to actually have a life. Not much in the way of job security or pay, but I like it anyway.
Cool! My husband’s a rocket scientist too. Well, his PhD is in astrophysics but until recently he did advanced space craft systems design for money. (Now he gets to invent stuff and solve problems and set up a lab from scratch — boy is he a happy camper.)
It’s an interesting point someone makes upthread about finding women who can talk to them. I know Jordin loves it when I get his geekier jokes.
MKK–official physics groupie
As a woman who is currently working on encouraging her daughter (who has shown marked aptitude in science) to eventually pursue a career in the field (and, for starters, to avoid the roadblocks that seem to jump in front of science-loving girls when they get into 5th, 6th and 7th grades), I will be particularly interested in reading your posts in this area.
[...] response to my introductory post, a few people commented that they were looking forward to my posts on the topic of women in the [...]