Kate Bilo: A Passion For Science
By Kate Bilo.
I'll start off simply by saying, I'm a nerd. I'm proud to be a nerd, and have always been a nerd, even before it was actually cool to be a nerd. I've always been fascinated and slightly overwhelmed by the idea of the immensity of the universe, the complexity of the Earth, by the oceans and the atmosphere, geography and culture. I used to memorize world capitals for fun. I've always been obsessed by the weather, attempting to make my own forecasts as a kid and charting weather patterns for future reference on graph paper. I like to solve equations as a stress reliever. See? Nerd.
But I think most kids have an inherent nerd inside them, and, especially for girls, this wasn't always the cool way to be. I'm thrilled to see the changes in mindset that I think have happened in the past thirty or so years, that shift in thinking where now it's cool to be a girl scientist, or a boy scientist. Movies like The Martian show that shift in thinking - this guy is a superhero who could survive on Mars using not his muscles or his good looks, but his knowledge of science. It's cool to be smart and to have a love for learning and how things work! It makes you a Space Pirate!
For me, life is a constant quest for knowledge and understanding, and science is at the root of everything. Meteorology appealed to me precisely because it is, by definition, an inexact science. Brilliant minds across the planet study weather patterns, atmospheric conditions, virtually unintelligible data, and still, weather cannot be perfectly predicted. It's close, but it will never be 100% perfect, because as humans we simply cannot solve or fully grasp the inner workings of the atmosphere. That's amazing to me, and it's a constant, daily challenge.
That's a huge part of why I love my job. Challenging myself every single day to learn more, to understand better, to use science to further my understanding of how the world works, and then to communicate that to others - it's a thrilling endeavor. I find science fascinating, and I always hope that through my passion, others will sit up and say "wow, that's interesting." The biggest compliment you could ever give a meteorologist, in my opinion, is "you seem to love your job, and I always learn something watching you." I'm still learning every day, and I'm privileged that our viewers get to learn along with me.
