Kim Kowal Arcand

Current position: Visualization scientist, Emerging Tech Lead for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

I like to say that I use data to tell stories about the Universe. Sometimes those stories might be in the form of a 2-dimensional image of a stellar nursery, a 3D print of an exploded star, or a Virtual Reality application of high-powered stellar jets.

Education (degrees and school):

University of Otago, Ph.D. (3D data sets)

Brown University, M.A. (image & meaning)

Harvard University, (computer science graduate work)

University of Rhode Island, B.S. (bio)

Hobbies:

Walks in the woods or on the beach, hanging out with my family, reading.

Where were you born and where did you grow up? Where did you go to high school?

I was born and raised in Scituate, Rhode Island

I went to Scituate Junior Senior high school

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I’ve always been curious, from the time I was very small. I loved science– asking questions, figuring things out, hopefully helping people along the way. I wanted to be an astronaut, then a doctor, then an environmentalist, then a veterinarian, then a.... you get the idea. I knew I wanted to work in science somehow. But I would also say that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up!

How did you get into computer science?

I was in my junior year of undergraduate work in biology when I started having serious doubts on what I wanted to do when I finished school. I was good with computers, I really liked working on them, so I wandered down to the computer science department at URI to see if there were any opportunities for me to work in CS. The professors there, and particularly Dr. Fay-Wolfe, were incredibly gracious and welcoming. And it just so happened there was a position that combined the science skills I had and the computer science skills I was developing. From there, from this one amazing opportunity, I continued to develop my skills in CS/coding and realized that I could look for jobs that combined science and computer science.

What other jobs have you had?

In high school and college: Babysitter, sandwich maker, typist, database developer, multimedia developer/coder. My work for Chandra was my first “real job” after college and I’ve been there exploring the Universe ever since….over two decades!

What is an average day at work like for you?

Since having my children, I work primarily from home. I start my day early, checking over social media, responding to emails, and reviewing my calendar. This lets me catch up with colleagues and happenings in the more Eastern time zones, from Japan to the UK. I then take a break for a couple hours to get ready for the day and get my kids off to school, etc. Then I’ll settle back in and tackle the most pressing items of the day. My work tends to be project based. So right now, I am concentrating on getting the materials ready to start a new research project on data visualization, prepping to launch a new augmented reality application, and finalizing what I want to say for an upcoming talk. Before and after my lunch break I will either drive to local meetings, or get on a few phone or video telecons. Later in the afternoon, I break for a bit when my kids get home from school and take them to their activities and have dinner. After dinner I typically do a quick final check of social media and email to catch up on any remaining issues or articles, particularly from the more western time zones. But on other days, when traveling, attending conferences, running workshops or giving talks, or something else entirely, that all goes out the window.

What is your favorite part of your job?

I joined the staff for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory about a year prior to its launch in 1999. Chandra is a cutting edge piece of equipment to this day, an X-ray telescope that studies very hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and black holes. Twenty years (plus) into the mission, I can still say I learn something new every single day. And on some days, I feel like I get to sit in the Universe’s cathedral - these tall towering places that have been around for seemingly forever, where you can simply absorb the beauty of the architecture. I get – and we all get really, through the public space program – a front row seat into that deep, infinite beauty.

What is the best opportunity you have had because of computer science?

I recently led a team of researchers to launch the first-ever data-driven virtual reality application of a supernova remnant using actual NASA data, in close collaboration with Brown University. I also led a team of researchers to help improve NASA 3D printed data sets of stars in various stages of evolution by working with students and professionals who are blind or visually impaired in collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind and other partners. Such opportunities give me so much energy and excitement.

Any great stories about working in computer science?

My foundations in computer science have led me on an incredible path, from working with the United Nations and the U.S Department of State, to speaking with thousands of people at large events, to even writing books. I could not have imagined working on any such projects when I first started out, hacking my way through C++.