The answer is National Geographic Explorer Kakani Katija. The intrepid intellect spent her youth doing triple axels and dreaming of journeying to the stars, an unlikely start for the now principal engineer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Kakani Katija earned her master’s degree in aeronautics at the California Institute of Technology with her goal firmly set on exploring space. She quickly became enamoured with the scientific applications of fluid dynamics but it wasn’t until she had the opportunity to collaborate on a research project studying the fluid dynamics of jellyfish that she found her true calling.

“Sometimes your career path isn't straight,” says Kakani Katija. “It wasn’t until grad school that I realized the endless possibilities and places I could do research and work in – including the ocean. It's okay to change your career path and career interests, which is what I've done, not just out of necessity, but out of interest.”