27 years old, from Bozeman, Montana
Michelle works for NASA and posts satellite pictures and lessons about the Sun on a Web site for the whole world to see
There is a satellite in orbit around the Earth right now called the Yohkoh satellite. (Yohkoh is Japanese for "Sunbeam") The satellite and the on board instruments were built by the Japanese, the United States and several countries in Europe. The purpose of the Yohkoh satellite is to take pictures of the Sun so scientists can try to figure out exactly how the Sun works.
It is my job, along with many people who work with me, to take these images and present them to the public in a fun and interesting way. Our web site is located at http://solar.physics.montana.edu/YPOP/
What I love about my job is that I am employed to be creative. One of my favorite things to do! I get to create lessons and activities about the Sun for parents and their kids, or teachers and their classes, to do for fun. I enjoy creating exciting activities that are educational at the same time. We have a guestbook on our web site and I really enjoy hearing from the families who are surfing the web at home and are able to learn something about the Sun in a fun way because of our site.
I live in Bozeman right now. I am a graduate student in physics at Montana State University. I hope to finish my Ph.D. in astrophysics in a couple of years and then I will be moving to where ever I can find a job. I would really like to continue living in the West.
I grew up all over the world. My father was in the Air Force and we got to move around a lot. I really LOVED moving and seeing so many wonderful places. I was born in Massachusetts. I lived in the country of Turkey for two years, a terrific experience. I moved to Alaska with my family when I was in fifth grade. We drove all the way from Massachusetts to Alaska in an orange Volkswagen van. It took an entire month to get there and we saw a lot of the United States. I lived in Alaska until I graduated from high school. My parents, and my three brothers still live in Alaska. It is great fun to travel there to visit them.
I am 27 years old. I am married. My husband is also a graduate student in physics. We met here at Montana State University. We do not have any kids. We do have two cats. They have Star Trek names. The male cat is a striped tabby cat and his name is Riker. The female cat is a grey cat and her name is Saavik. They are a lot of fun!
One of my favorite hobbies is to garden. Unfortunately, living in Montana, I only get to do this a few months of the year. I also like to look at the stars. I belong to the amateur astronomy club in Bozeman. My husband and I both have our own telescopes, which he built, and we take them all over Montana to share the sky with others. You can see my telescope on my web page. I also love to read. I make jewelry, and I like to camp.
I learned about computers and the Web by reading books. Four years ago I had never, ever, been on the web. I asked my husband a few questions to get me started, he has been into computers for a very long time, and then I got a few good books and basically taught myself. I certainly taught myself how to write web pages. It is amazing what a little hard work and a good reference book can do. :-)
My advice to someone who is interested in getting an Internet or computer-based job is to remember to use your creativity, it will make you stand out in the end. Computer programming and web design require a definite set of rules. You do have to follow the procedures to have things work correctly. Still, while working within the necessary rules, it is possible to be creative and exciting with the way you present your work. I always remind myself that at the other end of my product there is going to be a real person, and it is my job to make things interesting for them!