UPDATE #46 - January 8, 1999

PART 1: Upcoming Chat
PART 2: Project News
PART 3: A Typical Day in the Life of a Safety Engineer
PART 4: Subscribing & Unsubscribing: How to do it

UPCOMING CHATS

How would you like to have a NASA Aerospace Team member come to your classroom and answers questions? Well... we invite you to the next best thing a QuestChat. Start thinking of some great questions! QuestChats require pre-registration. Unless otherwise noted, registration is at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/chats

Tuesday, January 12, 1999, 9 AM Pacific Standard Time: Mary Reveley, aerospace technology gas and fluid systems design engineer

Mary designs anything that carries a fluid from one point to another. The fluid can be air, water, lubricating oil, fuel, nitrogen, liquid hydrogen, etc.

Read Mary Reveley's profile prior to joining this chat. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/reveley.html

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Wednesday, January 13, 1999, 10 AM Pacific Standard Time: Kelly McEntire, turbomachinery branch chief

Kelly is involved in jet engine engine research. He manages a group of 12 engineers that turn the ideas of the groups' lab rocket scientists, also known as aeropropulsion researchers, into reality.

Read Kelly McEntire's autobiography prior to joining this chat. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/mcentire.html

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Wednesday, January 20, 1999, 10 AM Pacific Standard Time: Ken Schrock,
flight test project/instrumentation/telemetry, data-communication engineer

Ken's is involved with the development of the Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS), a tool that will help air traffic controllers better handle the large number of airplanes flying in and out of the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport.

Read Ken Schrock's autobiography prior to joining this chat. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/schrock.html

PROJECT NEWS

There's a lot of news to report! Hope your New Year's off to a great start!
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Wind Tunnel Data Lesson Plans Online!
We have some new lesson plans online for grades 4-12. These are designed to help teachers teach students how interact with the data from the Wright Flyer Wind Tunnel Test. Take a look under Wind Tunnel Data Lesson Plans at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/teachers
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January Art Contest for Grades 1-8
Looking for an outlet for your (students) artistic talents? Start with a line drawing of the Wright Flyer and create a drawing in the style of Wassily Kandinsky, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, or Andy Warhol. We can't wait to see what you come up with!!!

For details go to
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/events/contest/art.html
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How Did the Wright Brothers come up with their design? Would you like to know? Then I think you might enjoy reading the article "The Origins of the First Powered, Man-carrying Airplane" by F. E. C. Culick The Wright brothers' "Flyer'' of 1903 was not just a lucky effort by two bicycle mechanics from Dayton but the outcome of an intensive program of research, engineering and testing. The author, Fred Culick is a member of the AIAA Wright Flyer Project and a Professor of Jet Propulsion at the California Institute of Technology. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/background/origin.html

[Editor's Note: Donald Mendoza is a System Safety Engineer. He helps to
reduce the risk involved in NASA research. His autobiography is at
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/mendoza.html]

A TYPICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SAFETY ENGINEER

by Donald Mendoza
January 4, 1999

NASA scientists and engineers have many responsibilities that are directly
or indirectly involved with the creation of knowledge. These
responsibilities may be broken down into several areas that are centered
on an idea and are, formulation, approval, implementation and evaluation.
Each of these areas is in turn broken down further and your specific job
will determine which area you work. However, everyone usually must support
each area for an idea to evolve into a useful product. This product may
not necessarily be technological but will be new knowledge that may
eventually be transformed into technology.

Before I continue let me pause to explain why knowledge creation is
necessary. By nature humans are a curious lot (a symptom of intelligence)
and any endeavor that seeks to ask and answer questions satisfies this
curiosity. More importantly, humans as any other form of life, have an
innate need for self-preservation or survival and this manifests into
a process of evolution. Here is the key for us humans, to evolve means to
learn and to learn means to create knowledge!

As a safety engineer/scientist I support many programs at NASA Ames during
all areas of their activity. So my typical day is very diversified but is
usually divided like this, 30% reviewing project plans, 20% developing,
documenting, and promoting safety policy, 20% doing internal
administrative functions (supporting my boss and organization), 10%
conducting safety analysis, 10% conducting research and 10% learning new
things. These are not exact numbers, for instance I am always learning but
the 10% number above reflects the time I am attending official training
classes.

Personally, I try to arrange my workday so that I can conduct all the
above functions as efficiently as possible. However, there is always the
possibility that someone will come to me with an "emergency" of some kind
and I will have to change my schedule on the spot.

In order to maintain my enthusiasm for the job and general health I make a
point of scheduling time for personal and social activities including
working out and talking with family and friends. I usually work out at
noontime since this seems to pick up my afternoon energy level and make my
workday seem shorter. With the exception of the winter season
I usually will workout again after work. Working out (weightlifting,
running, cycling) allows me to purge any negative energy I have absorbed
during the day and gives me a sense of accomplishment. Likewise, spending
time with family and friends helps me put things in perspective such that
work related issues do not overwhelm and consume me. My daily
story time with my 5 year old son Travis is a high point of my day and I
look forward to this evening ritual with a passion.

So my typical day goes like this. After waking at about 6 a.m., breaking
up the 8 to 10 hour workday with one or two workouts, dinner and cleanup,
story time, relaxing with a book, comic, newspaper or TV, I finally get to
bed around 11 p.m. and dream of things past, present, and future.




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