Meet Katherine Cullinan

In honor of Women’s History Month, we have interviewed some of our female scientists here at SPEX CertiPrep and we are so excited for you to learn about our amazing team!

Here is a Q&A we had with Katherine Cullinan

Q. What is your role at SPEX?
A. QC manager for the Inorganic Department

Q. What led you to study science?
A. Science was my favorite subject in school because there wasn’t a right answer to recall and write down on a piece of paper. There was a question and a puzzle to solve through exploration of the world around us.

Q. What was your favorite science class/lab/project/study?
A. In 7^th grade we got to do class work, making right angle tubes and also capillary tubes. Working with glass is definitely up there as one of the most fun projects I’ve ever done. In high school, we dissolved zinc out from the inside of a penny, just leaving the copper foil. In college, we removed the plasticizers from saran wrap which feel very strange. In my first job, the flash point test for flammable fuels is a fun way to get paid to play with fire. But only here at SPEX do you get to watch neodymium change colors depending on what room it’s in, precipitate arsenic to what my colleague calls “very toxic Yoo-Hoo”, or help dissolve gold!

Q. What female scientist in history do you most admire?
A. Of course Marie Curie, but also the woman who invented Kevlar, Stephanie Kwolek.