A scientist’s life: Using X-rays to explore proteins

Katherine Kantardjieff is science, math dean at Cal State San Marcos

Meet chemist Katherine Kantardjieff, founding dean of the recently formed College of Science and Mathematics at California State University San Marcos.

Kantardjieff, 54, uses X-ray crystallography to explore proteins in work that is fundamental to the development of new pharmaceutical drugs. We asked her to list 10 things that she has done or experienced that shaped her as a person and scientist. Here’s what she told us:

• I’m a first-generation Bulgarian American who grew up in Los Angeles, where my grandparents decided to build a church for their children and grandchildren. They raised money to buy the property. The next generation — which included the architects and contractors — raised money to build it. As a kid, I helped pound nails, paint walls and pews, lay floors and lay the cornerstone. The church, Saint Kliment of Ohrid, broke ground in 1971 and celebrated its first services at Easter in 1973.
• I was in a Balkan dance group that was part of an international parade for the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games. We rehearsed for three weeks at the L.A. Coliseum, where we were fed Snickers bars and apples for dinner but got to watch the dress rehearsals. On the day of the ceremony, it was 105 degrees. Our group was staged in the old swim stadium in wool costumes. We removed our socks and shoes to dangle our feet in the pool. At the appointed hour, we marched out onto the field to the music of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
• On several occasions, I have supervised groups of underrepresented students studying abroad. We experienced moments as the accidental tourists. In London, the summer of 1995 was one of the hottest on record. I recall getting on the underground at Baker Street, along with a pigeon, which later exited at Edgeware Road. When the pigeons are riding the underground, you know it’s hot.
• The Looney Tunes cartoon “Rhapsody Rabbit” is one of my favorites. Bugs Bunny competes with a mouse at the piano while playing Liszt’s Hungarian Rapsody. I studied classical piano for 10 years with a concert pianist from Bulgaria. As I approached college, I was faced with the decision of whether I could devote significant time to the piano and major in chemistry. I decided to devote my time to my studies, and reserve the piano for pleasure and down time.
• During my last two years of college, I worked at the Los Angeles Zoo, spending part of my time as a zookeeper in the section that housed large birds. Golfers played on a course across the road. When golf balls entered the birds’ compound, the birds often ate them. When the birds had passed them, whole, the keepers would toss them back onto the golf course.
• I have earned degrees from both UCLA and USC. Football season is very schizophrenic.
• I have climbed to the top of the south bell tower, called “Old Steve,” at St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria. You have to climb 343 steps, which is quite some exercise, even for a runner like me. But the reward for the effort is a panoramic view of Vienna and an up-close view of some of the 230,000 roof tiles of the church.
• The highest mountain peak in the Austrian Alps is the Grossglockner. I have been on the Pasterze, Austria’s biggest glacier, which lies at the foot of the Grossglockner. The views from the glacier are spectacular.
• I have visited the birthplace of Austrian physicist Christian Doppler. The Doppler shift is named after him. The shift is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to the source of the wave. It is of great use in astronomy, helping scientists measure the speed at which stars and galaxies are approaching or receding.
• I have traveled to every continent but Antarctica and Australia, and I have visited 16 countries, as well as 25 states, as part of my professional activities as a scientist. I have learned a great deal about different cultures and diplomacy.

Source:  Utsandiego.com