First Woman Mission Pilot
I am now the first woman to become a Mission Pilot (MP) in Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP’s) Green Flag program. Achieving this had developed into a significant personal goal, and I simultaneously made CAP history.
I am now the first woman to become a Mission Pilot (MP) in Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP’s) Green Flag program. Achieving this had developed into a significant personal goal, and I simultaneously made CAP history.
Urban rappelling – a concept I hadn’t even heard of until a few months ago, when a friend invited me to participate in this year’s Outward Bound California City Skyline Challenge: rappelling off of the roof of the Hilton hotel in Union Square, San Francisco. So a few days ago, that’s exactly what I did! [...]
I just came back from my latest adventure, climbing Aconcagua via the 360 Route. Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the western hemisphere (and the second highest of the "seven summits"). I climbed with Sunny Stroeer from Aurora Women’s Expeditions (AWE) – who was, in fact, awe-some! I would highly recommend going with Sunny on [...]
How do I think about Aconcagua and risk management? Well, it is the highest mountain in the Western hemisphere. It is a frequently underestimated mountain – but climbing it does entail significant risks. So risk management is a relevant topic. As mentioned in one of my other Aconcagua posts, I chose to turn back a [...]
In this post, I’ll focus on making some Aconcagua gear related reviews and comments. I will not describe all of my gear in detail. However, I will select a few items that I thought were particularly useful. I’m reviewing these items because I loved the gear. I have no relationship with any of these companies, [...]
What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do in your life? I was recently asked, what’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do in your life? That’s a great question, because how we handle challenges and tough times is telling, in terms of who we are. Looking great while things are great, that’s [...]
Homecoming at UC Berkeley Last week, for the Homecoming Weekend at UC Berkeley, I was invited by the Bioengineering Department to give a talk entitled “Pushing the Boundaries of Your Engineering Degree - Imagination Will Take You Everywhere.” I really enjoyed this opportunity to visit the campus and to speak with faculty and students – thank [...]
I’m excited to start thinking ahead to my next adventure - on Aconcagua. Besides looking forward to a fantastic trip, I’m figuring out how I can combine two of my main interests, outdoor/endurance adventure and science/engineering. With increasing interest across a variety of industries in technologies for “extreme environments”, this seems entirely reasonable to me. [...]
People keep asking me for details about fun adventures, so I will post some of them here - starting with: hiking in Kluane National Park. Recently, I visited and hiked in Yukon Territory. I wouldn’t put this one into the “adventure” category – more like low-key, easy hiking but a fun trip in a beautiful [...]
I’ve been interested in robotic exoskeletons for years, having done my PhD work in that area. More recently, I’ve become interested in the developing field of soft robotics and have been dreaming about use cases that combine elements of both. Although professionally, I tend more to focus on B2B applications of technologies, as a consumer, [...]