What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
My first job was when I was 15. I worked as a counter girl at a snack bar in a mall. That is where I learned the importance of going to college. I did not want to work there for the rest of my life like the other counter girls who were in their 20s and 30s. My first technical job was my sophomore year of college. I worked as a physician's assistant in the premed program at Duke University (I was premed at the time). That's when I realized that I didn't like being around sick people and would probably not make a good doctor. However, I did like chemistry, so I chose to pursue a career in chemistry.

Who is your hero, mentor or person you most admire? Why?
There are several. First is my mother, Georgie Almon, now deceased. She balanced a career and family and always put her family first. She followed my father around in the military and moved every 2 years with seven children. Somehow with all those moves and children, my mother found time to attend about 20 colleges all over the U.S. until she completed enough course work to attain her bachelors and master's degree. She was a very strong woman.

I have had two strong technical mentors. Dr. Charles Coleman has served as a role model for me since I began working with him over 11 years ago. We have worked on various technical projects together and I have admired and tried to emulate his style of research and development. He has a very practical, methodical, logical approach to problems. He identifies a problem, postulates a straightforward solution and then follows through implementing his idea to completion. Although his solutions may not always appear exotic, they do work.

Dr. Elizabeth Bowman, now retired, began working at the Savannah River Plant in the mid 1950's. She was the first, and for many years, the ONLY female technical professional in our R&D laboratory. She had numerous technical and social hurdles to overcome. When Liz first joined the technical staff, her male counterparts introduced her to the Director's secretary so that she would have someone to eat lunch with. It did not take long for Liz to establish her reputation as a hard working, innovative, resourceful scientist. When I first started working, Liz helped me develop strategies to deal with male chemists and engineers who were not accustomed to working with women.

What is your favorite book?
"Einstein Simplified, Cartoons on Science" by Sidney Harris. Many people in the working world and currently enthralled with the daily exploits of Dilbert. Those of us in technology can instead pick up a copy of this book when we need to smile. One example is a sketch of someone in a suit entering a manufacturing facility carrying a briefcase. The bold lettering on the building reads "Genetic Engineering, Inc. A We-Will-Make-You-An-Equal Employer".

What advances in your field do you envision over the next 10 years?
I envision small, reliable, portable, multi-functional instruments that can be taken out into the field to generate real-time analytical results. What I see as the biggest growth areas in science are environmental remediation and restoration and detail process monitoring. There is a need for real time data acquisition - 24 hours is too long for an analytical result. Conditions can change. Realtime data are needed in so that a process can be kept in the most economic safe condition possible.

What do you see as the single most interesting element of your work?
I would say the wide variety of technical challenges and areas of technical pursuit. In my workplace we are presented with problems and asked to solve them. These problems can range from determining the amount of acid needed to pH adjust a waste tank to identifying the composition and source of an unknown material found in a process and determining how to prevent its reoccurrence. Our solutions are only limited by our technical and creative ability.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?
Probably my family. I never thought I would have a family. Technical pursuits have always come easily for me. Family is a challenge. I have been married for 10 years and have 6 children - one set of twins, a set of triplets and a single. It is ironic that we received no assistance from technology for this achievement.

What was your greatest challenge and what did you learn from it?
Balancing my desire as a research scientist to develop new and innovative approaches to problems with the customers need to have a practical, workable, sometimes immediate solution to his or her problem. Sometimes the two fit together (the only solution is new technology) but sometimes the best solution is routine.

What strategies do you use to maintain balance in your life?
None - I don't have time to maintain balance. With a career, home, marriage, 6 children 8-years old and under and all the activities associated with them, I don't have time to balance. I simply take things as they come and handle them as best I can. The important things get done; if things don't get done then they probably were not that important in the first place.

What advice would you give to young women who want to enter your field?
I would stress the importance of maintaining balance and perspective in your life (ironic considering my answer to the previous question). Realize that no one experiment, project, patent, paper, boss, coworker, relationship, or situation will determine your entire future. Very often it is the way you approach and handle situations that identifies you as an individual and not your approach to any one situation. What may seem important and critical when you are 25 may not be when you are 40 or 50.