AAMC Reporter: April 2007

Figure-Skating Scientist Minds the Details

Paula Turpen, Ph.D., director of research resources at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, can help you understand how to transfer a scientific discovery into the business community. And if you're nice, she might also help you understand the difference between a Lutz and a Salchow.

Because when she is not in the lab, Turpen, 50, takes to the ice as an amateur figure skater. And this month she will compete for the first time at the U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships, held April 11-15 in Bensenville, Ill.

"I skated on frozen ponds as a kid," she said. "I asked my parents if I could take it up, but they said no. A while back, though,my kids started taking learn-to-skate classes, and I noticed there were adults in another class. So I put on my 20-year-old skates and joined them."

Turpen, who said she practices at least four or five hours each week, has conquered several single-revolution spin jumps such as the waltz jump and toe loop. Up next is the axel, arguably the sport's most difficult maneuver. And while she may not be able to execute the dynamic leaps and spins of the pros, the tricks are nevertheless quite difficult and never fail to exhilarate.

"I love the feeling of gliding. You feel like you're flying," she says. "The jumps feel huge, even though it might be only six inches off the ice."

Turpen's hopes for the competition? To skate a clean program and "meet all these other crazy grown-ups who are addicted to this sport."Meanwhile, she says, her attention to the little things and a never-say-die attitude continue to benefit her on the ice as well as in the lab.

"As a scientist, you have to be persistent, and it's the same way in skating," she says. "You have to pay attention to the tiniest little details."

—S.H.

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