PSU Magazine Winter 2001

United Nation's halon committee requested her presence. At the Space Center, her group designed and built the world's first halon reprocessing unit, and she is currently establishing a research lab to develop new fire sup– pre ion agents for NASA facilities on Earth and in space, such as a future Mars base. In her spare time, Collins earned her master's and doctorate degrees in environmental engineering, and what followed was another twist in her trajectory. E ight years ago, Collins was asked at the last minute to attend a weeklong course for managers. She went, although she hadn't had time to read the required material. Fortu– nately, another engineer from Kennedy had. But during the initial introductions, Collins was turned off by the "know-it-all" whose preparation helped him answer every question without hesitation. To her chagrin, the instructor put them both in the same small workgroup for the duration of the course. But by the end of the week, Collins had changed her mind about her fellow engineer and asked him out. As a result, she and David Collins have been happily married for six years. As for becoming an astronaut, Collins says she's still interested. But having observed the everyday world of astronauts up-close, he's also aware that not every astronaut gets to travel in space. Most put in many hours of overtime, spend weeks on the road away from home and family, and spend hours as public relations emis aries. Now 40 and thinking about starting a family, Collins no longer remains as convinced of the trade-offs. "I am very confident we're going to commercial– ize the space program in my lifetime, so there will be that opportunity to see the planet from outer space. After putting in so much overtime getting degrees while working, developing the halon phaseout program and now thinking about having children-I have to ask myself, in the long run, what will be more important?" F or now, Collins is working on a special one-year assignment at NA A headquarters in Washington, D.C., designing a program to help NASA managers develop a new way of thinking. "Our mindset at the agency has been very traditi nal," says Collins. "We need to think more like Silicon Valley." Collins got the job in typical fash– ion. "I took a management develop– ment course at the (NASA) academy, and I had some ideas for improve– ments. I was giving the director that feedback after the course and he invited me to work for him." In D.C., Collins will also be help– ing find ways to incorporate recom– mendations from the blue ribbon panel on the failed Mars missions. In her mind, the problem lies with the aversion to risk that has built up at NASA over the last decade. "People joined the agency because we want to push to the limits," she says. "We need to return to that mindset-to chal– lenge ourselves and to challenge the future." D (Melissa Steineger, a Part/and freelance writer, wrote the articles "Mural Master" and "Bum, Buddy, Bum," which appeared in the fall 2000 PSU Magazine.) WINTER 2001 PSU MAGAZINE 19