1
00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:04,980
I remember when I worked for the
American Dental Association.

2
00:00:04,980 --> 00:00:10,110
So I remember telling people Oh to
design a material to to survive the oral

3
00:00:10,110 --> 00:00:12,630
environment is so challenging, it's
really tough.

4
00:00:12,630 --> 00:00:18,150
There's abrasion, prescription medication, you have ice cream, piping hot coffee 100

5
00:00:18,150 --> 00:00:24,630
degrees or more. Every 45 minutes we've
got solar radiation, x-rays, thermal

6
00:00:24,630 --> 00:00:29,680
cycling, atomic oxygen, the UV radiation
and the harsh vacuum of space.

7
00:00:30,700 --> 00:00:35,800
And then I went to work for NASA. And people ask me what I do and I say oh it's so challenging.

8
00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:40,820
(music)

9
00:00:40,820 --> 00:00:49,940
(music)
(ambient sound)

10
00:00:49,940 --> 00:00:54,220
Much of my job is failure analysis 
when this material fails in

11
00:00:54,220 --> 00:00:56,440
orbit like the outside of the blanket.

12
00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,100
(music)

13
00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:04,700
It's basically being a detective. Oh my
gosh how the heck are we gonna know what

14
00:01:04,710 --> 00:01:09,299
happened to this incredibly complicated
instrument on this incredibly

15
00:01:09,299 --> 00:01:15,450
complicated satellite, that's 250 miles
in space going 18,000 miles an hour that

16
00:01:15,450 --> 00:01:19,020
we're not gonna get to for two or three
years. But you slowly pick away at the

17
00:01:19,020 --> 00:01:24,180
problem, you got a lot of smart people
who are going systematically checking

18
00:01:24,180 --> 00:01:26,430
off the list what is credible and non
credible.

19
00:01:26,430 --> 00:01:28,680
I mean it's it's a puzzle, it's a riddle.

20
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:30,680
(music)

21
00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,440
I started focusing on science and math

22
00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:37,930
in middle school and in in high school. I
went to college and got a degree in

23
00:01:37,930 --> 00:01:44,140
chemistry. The thrill of being able to
you know, know have insight into what's

24
00:01:44,140 --> 00:01:48,910
really going on at the at the molecular
level. It's just really exciting for me.

25
00:01:48,910 --> 00:01:53,070
Not just accepting that it happens, but
digging into it,

26
00:01:53,070 --> 00:01:59,590
figuring out why.  My degree is in
chemistry and I do a lot with chemistry,

27
00:01:59,590 --> 00:02:06,130
with material science engineering, with
physics, but more important than all of

28
00:02:06,130 --> 00:02:08,020
those is English.

29
00:02:08,020 --> 00:02:14,300
(music)
(ambient sound)

30
00:02:14,300 --> 00:02:18,900
So if you cannot communicate
your needs, your opinions,

31
00:02:18,900 --> 00:02:23,580
your engineering judgment, little else matters.

32
00:02:23,580 --> 00:02:25,580
(music)
(ambient sound)

33
00:02:25,580 --> 00:02:33,720
Engineering, chemistry, they all share the common goal of making sense being able to draw general

34
00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:42,680
conclusions from a host of individual examples. So you can then use that information in the future.

35
00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:55,280
(music)