NASA cybersecurity expert Kymie Tan has told students at her old school in Melbourne how the Good Samaritan values she received there have guided her career, urging them not to fear failure in life. Source: The Good Oil.
Dr Tan, who graduated from the Mater Christi College in Belgrave in 1987, is now the Chief Engineer for Cybersecurity at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and in charge of some of the most complex and sensitive cybersecurity projects in the world.
She said her education at Mater Christi, a Good Samaritan Education school, laid the foundation for her career success. It not only encouraged her interest and abilities in STEM subjects academically but also instilled in her the Good Samaritan values that have underpinned her choices along the way.
Speaking at a special assembly during a recent visit to Australia, she spoke of the impact the school had had on her.
Among those who made an impression on her was the principal at that time, Good Samaritan Sister Margaret Keane, who gave her some advice that has stayed with her over the years.
“When I was experiencing some disappointments during my senior years at Mater, Sister Margaret told me, ‘Failure does not define you. It’s how you handle it that speaks to your character’. That message has always stuck with me,” she told the students.
After finishing high school, Dr Tan studied Computer Science at Melbourne University. During her honours year, she worked with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in the relatively new area of cybercrime.
It was during those studies that she was first able to put Sr Margaret’s advice about dealing with failure to good use.
She recounted to the Mater Christi students the time during her university studies when she wrote a computer program that took down test systems in the AFP.
She recalled being told that the reason she had failed was because “girls can’t program – they don’t have the mindset” and that she either accept failure in the course or get a boy to write the program for her.
“When that happened, I decided to keep showing up in his class every day because I realised that was what Sr Margaret meant. I leant into the failure and became the only woman to graduate from the honours program and complete a PhD in Cybersecurity,” she said.
Dr Tan’s PhD studies led her to the US and eventually to her job at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“There’s a principle or vision that NASA upholds that calls to certain people. It’s about working for humanity, working for the greater good, for the larger picture. And that was very, very attractive to me, particularly given the principles that I grew up with.”
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NASA cybersecurity expert urges students to reach for the stars (By Debra Vermeer, The Good Oil)
