March 11, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR BARB KONTOGIANNIS IN CO
Robin, it looks like part of your question was cut off, however I'll try
to respond to what I think you were asking.
Many space researchers are engineers, you can certainly be involved with
both. And you can change focus over your career as well, if that's what
you'd like to do. For instance, you could help design and build an
instrument, then later be involved in the research using that data (it can
sometimes take years to get all the data back, especially for planetary
missions). Or you could do some research early in your career, then use
your knowledge to help design new instruments to better the type or amount
of data gathered.
If this doesn't at all address your question, please ask again!