Kristin Jaburek’s passion for space exploration sparked during her youth while watching Space Shuttle segments on the nightly news. She fueled that passion with young adult science fiction, a blue marble poster in her bedroom, and a high school capstone project on NASA's Voyager mission. Born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, Kristin enrolled at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as an engineering student. After a year, she realized she could not ignore her passion for Earth science that the blue marble image had inspired in her. She became a double major in physical geography and engineering. Upon completion of her degrees, Kristin joined the workforce in Chicago as an IT Consultant. She maintains her passion for space exploration and earth science through continuous learning. Kristin is also a life-long avid musician and plays the flute as a member of a symphonic band.