IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2009 - 5

Of course, encouragement also comes
make a bigger impact, I can use the
from the success she's achieved along the
money to go after that," she clarifies.
way. Christman saw her earliest results
One direction that Christman conback in graduate school when
tinues to pursue is her role as
she injected a material into
a teacher. "Going through
a heart model and saw it
school, it is actually
"It's
achieve preservation of
50/50 men and women
really important
cardiac function after
in bioengineering,"
to be out there and
myocardial infarction
she says, "but the
show other females
(the medical term
percentage of women
for a heart attack).
facult y is much
that a life in
"This was especially
s m a l l e r." C o n s e academia
exciting to me because
quently, there can be a
is possible."
no one had looked at a
real lack of mentors. As
material alone in the heart
a member of UCSD's facbefore," she says, "and it really
ulty, she's realized the impact
motivated me to continue working
this has on students. "One student
in the area of myocardial repair."
told me she hadn't even considered acaVictories like this help keep Christdemia as a career until she saw me on
man on track to her big-picture aim
the faculty," Christman recalls. "I think
of restoring the heart after a heart
it's really important to be out there and
attack. "I'll probably spend my lifetime
show other females that a life in acatrying to achieve this," she chuckles.
demia is possible." In fact, it might be
"But, ultimately, the goal is to have
ideal for some. Christman cites the flexsomething to inject into the heart that
ible schedule as one convenience of her
regenerates muscle so there is no sign
life as a professor.
that the person ever had the heart
Regardless, she advises all students
attack." In the meantime, other techto follow their passions, just as she has.
nologies and therapies can help prevent
"Don't be intimidated by any field; [biosomeone going into heart failure after
engineering] is a great field to go into
the attack, and stop the heart from
and I think interested women should
deteriorating over time. Says Christgo for it." With the life-changing and
man of her short-term goal, "if you can
life-saving results Christman's research
prevent the patient from going into
might one day achieve, it goes to show
decline after the heart attack, you can
that pursuing one's interest in engineerimprove their quality of life."
ing could have the ultimate payoff.
Now, as one of 31 young scientists
-Leslie Prives
across the nation to receive the National Institutes of Health Director's New
Innovator Award, she can supplement
her current research with newer techniques. "I was ecstatic," says Christman
of her reaction to hearing she had won
Where writing and engineering meet
the grant. "There's a lot of pressure
when starting a lab to get it going but
The hardest thing that I have ever had
funding can be tight." Having applied
to do was get on a plane and move to
for the award in March of 2008, she
New York. I was a college recruit enterhoped to gain funding to study in vitro
ing the electronics field as a software
techniques that would help better conquality engineer (SQE) 23 years ago.
trol cell differentiation and cell fate.
Growing up in a small town in Alabama
One of the positive aspects of this grant
in a close-knit environment all my life, I
in particular, though, is its flexibility in
was reluctant to leave home. Yet, I knew
use. While Christman applied for the
I had to because I had dreamed of workgrant with one direction in mind, "if I
ing on computers since I was 12 years
see another direction that I think might
old and saw an RCA television commer-

The Best of Both Worlds

june 2009

cial about computers that captured my
imagination. There was my chance.
W hen my nint h-grade English
teacher told me, "One day you're going
to be a writer," I told her, "No, I'm going
to work on computers." I didn't say it
then, but the truth was that I really
liked English and journalism. Not to
mention, I enjoyed writing stories. But
already having the dream to work on
computers, there was never any doubt
what career path was in store for me.
Starting out as an SQE for Harris Corporation in Syosset, New York, not only
required a technical background but
writing skills to describe the software
products and processes of the systems
being developed. It turned out to be
a great asset that I liked to write, but
those skills needed to be refined.
To fully amplify my
skills, I enrolled in
technical writing
courses offered
through the
American Society
for Quality (ASQ)
in New York. The
courses enhanced
Paulette January
a nd ref ined my
writing skills. It also provided the capability that I needed in order to identify
and describe the characteristics and processes of systems and projects on which I
was working. These courses proved to be
valuable throughout my career. To this
day, I still utilize the skills that I acquired
from these courses as a senior SQE for
DRS Technologies and as the newsletter editor for Women in Engineering
(WIE). The IEEE has also been a very
valuable source for electronics and engineering information that I have relied on
throughout my career. Recognizing the
importance of both the ASQ and IEEE,
I am glad to volunteer as the newsletter editor for my local section of ASQ
as well as the worldwide IEEE WIE-
contributing to organizations that have
proven vital throughout my career and
are great resources for information.
As a senior SQE at DRS with over
20 years experience in the field of engineering and electronics, my responsibilities include verifying and validating
iEEE womEn in EnginEEring magazinE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2009