Distinguished Professor and Department Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Penn State
class="sc-fIosxK dnoTqD pf-594_" data-pf-type="Text">Karen grew up on a farm in a small southern Illinois town. She has said that while it provided her with a closely-knit family and strong work ethic it didn’t give her a particularly wide vision about how she could contribute to the world. At that time her choices seemed to be either a farmer or a teacher. Her father would drive her family on Sunday afternoons to an airport about 50 miles away to watch the planes take off and land. That’s where his fascination became hers. During her first year in college a classmate told her that she should become an engineer. After that first semester, she called McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) in St. Louis to talk to an engineer.
She spoke to one of their male engineers who answered her questions about what an engineer’s typical day was like. However, she learned that there were no typical days. Engineers were called upon to solve a host of different problems. That was when she decided to pursue engineering. However, when she told her parents, they told her that she was not smart enough to be an engineer. She trusted her instincts continued on with her passion. Engineering was challenging, but she earned her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
She then continued on to get her master’s there and later pursued her doctorate at
the University of Texas at Austin. She knew one thing: “my research had to be aimed at contributing to propulsion. In addition, my instincts were that I needed to be passionate about something if I really wanted to make a contribution.”
While doing her master’s research she had some detractors. One male graduate student told her that she should not be there because she was taking the place of a male who would need to support his family. However, her instincts told her to pursue this field despite having no women role models and despite the detractors. During her masters and doctoral studies she realized how academia allowed her not only to work with vibrant, bright engineering students but also to shape those students’ careers. Although she had a job waiting for her at a prestigious Department of Energy research lab after she completed her post-doc, she realized that a university position was where she needed to be.
Her first academic position was at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and from there she moved to Virginia Tech. In 2006, she moved to Penn State and she has been there since.
Share the moment or experience that ignited your passion and set you on your current path.
Two defining moments are:
i) when my friend who was enrolled in the beginning chemistry class with me suggested I think about engineering as a career. Up to this point, I had no idea what an engineer even did because I grew up on a farm with career exposure of farmers, teachers, and nurses none of which I wanted to be. I called up McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) and asked to talk with an engineer who described his work day and I was sold that this was the career for me.
ii) after completing my doctoral degree and was doing a post-doc in Germany, I realized how much I enjoyed being in academia working on research independently. So, rather than take a position in industry, I started as a faculty member.
We'd love to hear about a significant challenge you've overcome, and the lessons learned along the way.
As a new faculty member just starting my career, I had to convince federal agencies and/or industry to fund my research ideas. I was the first woman to work in my research field as an academic, which has to do with making gas turbines, which power aircraft, run efficiently while making sure that the turbine components did not burn up. My expertise is cooling the turbine components, which are exposed to temperatures much above their melting temperatures in operating turbines. The challenge was convincing the community that I could do meaningful experiments that were of high quality. After failing with over 10 proposals, I finally was successful in getting research funding from a company (Pratt & Whitney) and the National Science Foundation. Today, my research lab is managing over $45M worth of funded projects.
Discuss the impact you aim to have through your work and the legacy you wish to leave
The legacy I want to leave is that the students I have advised while working towards their graduate degrees have become leaders in the field and were propelled by what they learned in my research lab. I also want my legacy to be that the discoveries we have made in the lab are being used in industry to reduce the carbon emissions whether it be from power generation turbines and aircraft propulsion turbines.
What motivates you to challenge the status quo and push boundaries in your industry?
What motivates me is to work with an engaged group of colleagues and students to solve a challenge that has not been solved before. I love being first and love producing high quality solutions that can be transitioned into a design or analysis!
What's one piece of advice you'd give to young women aiming to make their mark?
Build a network of people and make sure they know what you are doing so they can be supportive. Do not be afraid to take risks and do not be afraid to fail once in awhile. Failure leads to learning especially when pushing boundaries.>
I define success when my students achieve excellence as demonstrated through their results being transitioned into a product or an analyses that is long lasting. I also define success when I am asked what my thoughts are by those I respect.
