Robin Bell, now a senior scientist at Lamont, met Kastens in the 1980s while working as a technician on a U.S. Geological Survey cruise. “Wow, was she dynamite,” Bell wrote in a statement read at the celebration last week. “Here was a woman who demanded the respect of all the engineers and scientists on the ship with the depth of her knowledge, her insights on how things work and ability to quickly understand complex systems. Kim has carried that energy and intensity forward with everything I have seen her touch since.”
“Finding there was no option to work part time or even take maternity leave when she found that she was pregnant and Holly was on her way, instead of whining, Kim took on the problem head on. By the time our second children Dana and Beryl arrived, Kim had made the system change and pushed through a parental leave of absence arrangement for Officers of Research throughout Columbia and a stop-the-clock provision for senior staff promotion within Lamont.