;

There^'s a new look in the *NOAA Corps since the

commissioning of the first woman officer.

Ensi^gn *Chel^f^i^f r en Comes Aboard *^^^^ *^^^^ *^BV *лмм ^к *^r^^^n^nu^' BY ANN *K. COOK

Grad^uate engineer, sailing enthusiast,

daughter of a U.S. Navy o^f^f^icer—Pamela

*Chelgren is a natural for the *NOAA Commissioned Corps.

And on July 6, she became the first

woman officer in the Corps' 55-year history,

sworn in by Secretary of Commerce Peter

*G. Peterson.

As Temporary Ensign P^amela *Chelgren,

*USNOAA, she then began the orientation

course at the *NOAA O^f^f^icer Training Center, located at the ^U.S. Merchant Marine

Academy in Kings Point, New York.

Smallest of the nation's seven uniformed

^services, the *NOAA Corps has some 340

officers, all college graduates with scienti^f^ic

and engineering backgrounds, who serve

thro^ughout the *NOAA organization. At any

given time, about half of the Corps^' total

complement is assigned to duty aboard ship,

conducting deep sea research and surveys,

hydrographie and tidal c^urrent surveys, and

wire drag operations. Sea duty is normally

the first assignment for a ne^wly appointed

officer, and Ensign *Chelgren is looking forward to it.

"I love ships, the ocean, and the outdoors," she says, pointing o^ut that the

*NOAA Corps offers a unique opportunity

to combine her engineering training and

her life-long interest in the sea.

Having been one of 1^2 women engineering majors among tho^usands at the University of Cali^fornia's Berkeley campus, she

is not fazed at the prospect of being the

^f^irst woman in a corps of 340 men.

Nor do the numerous station changes

which are the lot of Corps of^f^icers dismay

her. Third of seven children of Captain John

*Chelgren, *USN, she has moved many times

since her birth on May 13, 1950, in Annapolis, Md.. where her father was on the

Naval Academy staff. From Annapolis, the

*Chelgren family transferred to the Boston

area and then to Long Beach, California.

It was at the next post—White Sands Missile

Range. New Mexico—that *Pam started

school. The first school she really remembers was in Montgomery County, Md.,

where she attended the third, ^fourth, and

fifth grades while her father was st^atione^d^

in Washington, *D.C. Later came moves to

con^ti^nued

^26
(Opposit^e page) The ^41s^t *^NOAA O^fficer

Training Class. (Far le^ft) Pamela

*Chelgren bicycled across the campus of

the Uni^versit^y of Cali^fo^rnia at Ber^keley.

(Above) Her interest in sailing led her to

enroll in naval science courses. ^(Left)

She wo^rked 20 ^hours ^a week in the

Univ^ersity's Space Sciences Laboratory,

where one of her assignmen^ts was

checking on the condition of da^ta tapes

from the Orbi^ting Geophysical

*Observatory-5 spacecraft. (Below)

Studying in the Un^iversity library.

^27
the e^f^fects of temperature and food intake

variations on the Bufo *boreas—or common

toad.

She held summer jobs in banks in the

San Francisco area^, and in her senior year

Ms. *Chelgren ^worked at least 20 hours each

week as a statistical clerk in the University's

Space Sciences Laboratory. In an office

trailer named "Saturn," she worked with

data on x-rays in space gathered by *OGO

(Orbiting Geophysical Observatory) -5.

One day, the assignment might be plotting

the x-ray data; another wo^uld ^f^ind her running older tapes through a computer to

check on their condition—a process called

*"scelming."

Always interested in outdoor sports, Ms.

*Chelgren has skied since high school days.

She also enjoys summer backpacking and

camping in the Sierras. Two years ago, she

decided to try sailing. "Now, it'^s my number one hobby," ^she says. She was a member

and instructor at the Cal Sailing Club, and

took to the Bay waters as often as her

schedule allowed.

This hobby led her to enroll in two naval

science courses to learn navigation. "It's

very handy when that fog rolls over the

Bay," she points out.

In her last quarter at Berkeley^, together

with such courses as fluid mechan^ics and

naval science, her schedule included a

course in music, a long-time interest of her

^family.

Her maternal grandmother was a concert

pianist from Fargo, North Dakota, who

appeared on to^ur in many parts of the West.

Her mother studied voice and, before her

marriage, planned a career in opera. All of

the *Chelgren children have studied piano

and another instrument. In *Pam's case, the

second instrument was the flute, which she

still plays and plans to take with her on

her travels in the *NOAA Corps.

Although she is not a member of any

women's liberation organization, Ms. *Chel-

*gren generally agrees with their broad aims,

particularly those of eliminating discriminatory legislation. "But some of the real

radicals seem to hate men, and I don't go

along with that."

When she made an appointment with the

*NOAA Corps recruiters visiting the Berkeley campus, she did not know that there

were, as yet, no women in the Commissioned

Corps. And now, Ensign *Chelgren says, "I

am more interested in the challenge of the

job itself, than I am in being a 'first'." D

Pamel^a *Chelg^ren became the ^firs^t^

^woman officer in t^he *NOAA Corps, when

she was sworn in by Secretary of

Commerce Peter *G. Peterson on July 6.

Her father, Navy Captain John *Chelgren,

held the Bible for the ceremony.

29