I took algebra in the 9th grade, geometry in the 10th, algebra II in the 11th, and two math courses in the first semester of my senior year -- trigonometry and solid geometry--and calculus the second semester(a rigorous, epsilon-and-delta course!). I always got A's in math. The only science I took were chemistry and physics. I was nervous about taking physics, because I though it was a "boy's subject." but my counselor convinced me to try it and I became the best student in the class. I also took two semesters of drafting in high school, one of them in summer school; that remains one of my proudest accomplishments, since I went from F's on all my early work up through D's, C's, B's, and finally A's.

I went to Mount Holyoke College because I wanted to go East to college, having grown up in California, and at that time it seemed to me that the best colleges in the East that accepted w omen were women's colleges. I did not specifically want to go to a women's college, but it turned out well for me because I learned there to "tak e myself seriously" and to plan on a research career.

When I went to college, I was debating between mathematics and chemistry as a major (and planned to become a high school teacher). But during the first year, I found math boring again- I was re quired to repeat my high school calculus. Chemistry, on the other hand, was challenging-in fact, I got advanced placement in chemistry purely on the basis of my math skills ! After toying with the idea of majoring in psychology, I finally decided to major in chemistry, although I did take two years of calculus and a year of abstract algebra so I'd know about symmetry groups and the like. After a fascinating course in Parties and Politics, I almost spent a summer as an intern for Senator Alan Cranston in Washington, DC, but at the last moment opted for an NSF(National Science Foundation) program in chemistry research instead.