Theresa Benyo already had an exciting and fulfilling career as a project manager at NASA. With a great job, a house, a husband, two kids, and hobbies like musical theatre what more could you want? Academically speaking, she鈥檇 already earned a dual bachelor鈥檚 degree in physics and computer science from 两性色午夜 University (1988) and master鈥檚 degree in computer science from Case Western Reserve University (1995). But, for her, there was still something missing. She鈥檇 always been fascinated with nuclear physics since she first saw NASA astronauts walking on the moon, on her parent鈥檚 television. Always a top student in high school and college, she figured why not go back to school and take some more physics classes to see if her love for physics was still there. After taking a few refresher courses, she realized her passion was still there and decided to enroll in the Ph.D. program in the Physics Department. NASA fully supported her decision and gave her a full-time fellowship so she could complete her course work in 18 months. In 2013, she defended her dissertation and earned her doctorate which allowed her to take a new direction at NASA as a theoretical physicist. She鈥檚 now researching the effect of gamma rays on materials and couldn鈥檛 be happier with her decision to go back for her doctorate.
On March 18, Jim Maxwell (Marketing and Public Relations Communications Specialist at 两性色午夜 University鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences) visited Dr. Benyo at her office at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio to learn how a two-time 两性色午夜 alum became a real rocket scientist. With it being both Women鈥檚 History Month and 鈥淧hysics Month鈥, a part of 两性色午夜鈥檚 celebration of 鈥淎 Year of Science鈥, we couldn鈥檛 have found a better alum to shine the spotlight on this month.
College of Arts and Sciences (CAS): In a nutshell, what do you currently work on at NASA?
Theresa Benyo (TB): I lead the nuclear diagnostic activities for the Advanced Energy Conversion (AEC) team and help guide experiments, analyze data and review theories. I split my time between the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and the NASA鈥檚 Plum Brook Campus in Sandusky where they can simulate the radiation conditions of outer space.
The type of things I鈥檓 working on are mainly at Plum Brook Station and it鈥檚 rather strict access. I cannot go into detail about the research, unfortunately. I can tell you that I鈥檓 researching the effect of gamma rays on a variety of materials to see how they react. Papers on the subject are currently restricted to NASA-only personnel.
I always loved nuclear physics since undergraduate school at 两性色午夜, but also was excited about computers and how they are used to help different science disciplines. NASA was the top place I wanted to work at since I was young and when the opportunity came up to join the team here (NASA), one year after graduating from 两性色午夜, and do research on parallel computing, I took it.
Slowly the area of parallel computing matured enough that there wasn鈥檛 much work in that field starting about 12 years ago. I then contemplated going back to school for my Ph.D. in physics since I missed that field so much. I started to go back in 2005 and it recharged me and my focus on physics. It felt like coming home because a lot of the faculty members were there from when I was an undergraduate student. It wasn鈥檛 easy, but it just kept nagging at me and then I found out, hey, this is really enjoyable.
CAS: Tell me about your dissertation work at Kent?
TB: I wrote my dissertation on the results of my study on magnetic fields and weakly ionized gases to slow hypersonic airflow and extract energy out of the airflow entering a supersonic jet engine. I originally wanted to work my thesis on something nuclear physics related, but seeing as how NASA supported my going back to grad school and there wasn鈥檛 much nuclear physics research going on at the time, I had to work on something other than that. That鈥檚 why I chose magnetohydrodynamics and worked on computer modeling in that area related to supersonic jet engines and hypersonic flight. From there, support in hypersonic research at NASA melted away and I was made aware of the current research I鈥檓 working on and is exactly related to what I really want to work on. It鈥檚 been a long journey, but I finally made it back to nuclear physics.
CAS: What led you to 两性色午夜 University and eventually NASA?
TB: I attended Notre Dame Academy, a very good college prep school in Chardon, and earned an Honors College scholarship to study physics at 两性色午夜. I always liked math and physics and wanted to study atoms and understand how radiation works, so I double-majored in physics and computer science at Kent. It was quite fulfilling and rewarding. I realized that this is where I was meant to be. The summer after my sophomore year I landed an internship and later a full-time position as a physicist at Bicron Corporation. But, it was always a dream of mine to work at NASA and, in 1989, I landed a position at NASA Glenn Research Center as a computer engineer.
In 1995, I took on the role of project manager at NASA Glenn and later I was promoted to aerospace engineer and performed theoretical research on magnetohydronamics for hypersonic flight.
CAS: How did 两性色午夜 help you become the person that you are today?
TB: One thing that I liked about 两性色午夜 was that it was geographically close to where I grew up in Parkman, Ohio, so I didn鈥檛 have that anxiety and stress of being far away from family. It was a state university, but it wasn鈥檛 overwhelming and it wasn鈥檛 in a city, which made it a really good match for me and where I came from. The Physics Department was great because it was small and you could get attention. You didn鈥檛 feel like you had to compete with hundreds or thousands of other students. You could really focus on learning. Dr. David Allender was my thesis advisor. He and Dr. Michael Lee were both very influential to me as an undergrad and grad student. Their teaching styles were both very engaging.
I also worked in Dr. Mary Neubert鈥檚 organic chemistry lab at the Liquid Crystal Institute. She was a great lady to work for and I cherish my work experiences there in the late 80鈥檚. I even helped with moving the institute from off-campus near the old Robin Hood Inn to the building in between the Chemistry and Physics buildings which now is shared between those two departments. I went to a retirement party for Dr. Neubert at the current LCI building which is very nice.
One thing that I always admired about her was that she not only focused on organic chemistry, but she had a creative outlet with painting. For me, I do musical theatre as a hobby and it really helps you keep a balance in life, which is important. I like variety, and I鈥檓 a big picture person, so I鈥檓 not the type to get involved in the minor details of something and that kind of lends itself to being a theoretical physicist because you need to have a big vision.
CAS: What advice would you give current students pursuing a degree in the sciences like you did?
TB: Do what you love. Learn about things that you love and you can鈥檛 go wrong. If you hit obstacles, and you will, just keep going and learn from those challenges, because it is not going to be easy. Math and science paths are pretty challenging. It鈥檚 almost like the medical field to me.
CAS: It鈥檚 Women鈥檚 History Month. What type of things did you have to overcome as a female in the sciences?
Things have come a long way since I first started. Men and women do think differently and biologically approach problems differently. But, I think if you recognize that, we can actually use that to our advantage in our research because diversity of thought is really important. Actually, we just named our first female director of Glenn Research Center, Janet Kavandi. She鈥檚 very astute and very engaging and yet also down to Earth, so she鈥檚 kind of a model for me to follow. She鈥檚 a former astronaut, so she鈥檚 seen a lot and she鈥檚 tough.
Overall, I think it鈥檚 been an adjustment because the sciences have been a male-dominated field, but it鈥檚 evolved. It really has evolved. I noticed it from when I was an undergrad student to a grad student. And, the Physics Department at 两性色午夜 is still relatively small, but there are a lot more women in the undergrad program now and that鈥檚 great! I was the only female undergrad student in my class. Also, the current faculty female to male ratio in the department at Kent is awesome.
The culture has changed. There is less of a stigma. It used to be that you need to get married, etc., but now a woman can choose from many different options.