About Extreme Science

The Extreme Science website is the brainchild and labor of love of Elizabeth Keller, who has poured her passion for science and dedication to igniting the fires of inspiration for budding young scientists into this fun and informative website. The website has evolved over the years since it was first launched in 1998 and has grown into one of the most highly visited science websites on the world wide web. Extreme Science is ranked in the top 1% of the most visited sites on the entire Internet.

Biography and Credentials

Elizabeth Keller doesn't just know how to build websites. When other college students were getting jobs making sandwiches and waiting tables, she landed a job as a Park Ranger and put herself through college with the money she earned working out in the field. She financed both her undergraduate and graduate degrees with the money she earned as a Ranger. In order to get the job she had to get some college training that was unrelated to her major, but she says the extra effort that it required paid off immediately with a good paying job with flexible hours. She become a certified California State Peace Officer, and got her American Red Cross certificates in Emergency First Aid and CPR.

"I never realized how extremely valuable it was to know how to help someone in a crisis situation. I had gotten the training because it was a prerequisite for the job, but once I'd been through it and had to put the skills to use it gave me an incredible sense of confidence and security knowing that I was able to really make a difference in a life or death situation, especially with my loved ones. I wish everybody was required to have this training!"

But her interest in science kept her true to her course and when in graduate school earning a Master's degree, she knew it was time to get some work experience related to her field of study - cognitive science. She landed a job working for NASA on a university foundation grant. She conducted the research for her Master's thesis while working on an experiment using astronaut analogs in a controlled laboratory study. The experience was enough to get her hooked on research science.

"All of the training I'd had in research methods, experimental design, statistical analysis and computer science really prepared me well for the job of doing tightly controlled, highly complex laboratory experiments. I loved working in the lab, loved every aspect of doing scientific research - from formulating the hypotheses, to writing up the results. People who aren't scientists think I'm crazy, but my favorite step in the scientific method is analyzing the data because that's when the answers start coming.

A lot of people think the fun part of science is conducting the experiments, you know, collecting the data/samples. But the real act of discovery comes when you're huddled over a computer in the wee hours crunching numbers. Teasing out the experimental effects and seeing what really happened is exciting."

Becoming a Scientist

After finishing her Master's degree in experimental psychology she went to work for NASA in the Space Life Sciences Office developing life science experiments for flight on the Space Shuttle. Working in Space Sciences can be pretty extreme for a scientist. Most of the scientists who design and test experiments for flight in space work in laboratories here on earth. But for those who develop the science experiments for flight on the shuttle, they can have some pretty extreme working conditions. Elizabeth worked as part of a team of scientists and engineers who developed and tested flight hardware for experiments in space physiology and gravitational biology. She also ran ground control experiments at Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base, concurrently with experiments that were being conducted by the crew (the astronauts) on board the shuttle during a mission. Elizabeth, like all of the other scientists assigned to a science payload had to go where the science went - leaving family and friends for many weeks at a time to support a shuttle mission, usually going to Cape Canaveral to prepare several weeks before the launch.

The scientists, engineers, and technicians who support space shuttle missions put their lives on hold for a mission, traveling to Kennedy Space Center and staying there until the shuttle launches, even through repeated launch slips. Many of them have to stay at either the launch site, Mission Control (in Houston), or at Edwards Air Force Base (Dryden Landing Facility) during the shuttle mission to monitor the science during flight, or conduct concurrent experiments. When the flight commander lands the shuttle and the astronauts all get off and go home, the scientists are usually there recovering and studying their science. In fact, they are usually the last ones to go home when a mission is complete, sometimes staying weeks after a shuttle flight is over. But the excitement of doing science in the US space program puts it all into perspective.

"It's a once in a lifetime experience, to have the opportunity to work as a scientist on a project that literally takes your work out of this world. The experiments we flew on one of the science payloads I worked on had to be very precisely timed. When we had a slip in our launch date by just a couple of days, we worked long, long hours at a frenetic pace to pull our experiments off the shuttle, reselect, recalibrate, restock and reload our science within the exact "window" before the next scheduled launch. And it had to be perfect - no room for mistakes. Launch scrub turnarounds can make or break a person physically and mentally. The incredible demands placed on us drove us to the brink, but when we stood on the causeway as a team and watched the shuttle finally go up with our science on board there were tears of pride and relief all around."

Teaching a Love of a Science

When Elizabeth left her job with NASA the Internet was just coming into its own. She decided the best way to learn about the Internet would be to create a website and felt that she should stick with what she knew - science. During graduate school and later, after her first daughter was born (she now has 4!), she taught school as a subsitute teacher. The students she taught found her stories of science in space riveting. She took her own fascination with things extreme and her love of teaching and inspiring kids and turned it into a science education website aimed it kids. The experience she gained from developing the Extreme Science website put her in touch with her fascination and aptitude with technology. She has successfully migrated from a career in science to one as a technology professional. Elizabeth currently owns and operates a technology consulting firm.

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Many readers have written asking questions for materials that don't appear on the site, but are clearly of a related nature. When time allows, she will research the material and offer thoughtful, informed answers to readers' questions and offer additional resources where applicable. New material is constantly being added to the website because of the overwhelming interest in the 'extreme' phenomena that is featured on the site.

If you have come here because you have a question that needs answering, or you are looking for a fascinating science factoid you just can't find on Extreme Science, or anywhere else, send an e-mail and let her know. Due to the sometimes overwhelming amounts of e-mail she can't always respond right away, but she always take the time to send a thoughtful and personal response to all her readers.

To all of the loyal and dedicated Extreme Science diehards, thank you for continued support of the website and the E-zine.

Extreme Science is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California.