Kim was working in biology/public health and computer science when she was hired for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in 1998. Since she always wanted to be an astronaut when she was little, this opportunity got Kim close to the cosmos but without the long distance commute. Today, Kim uses data to help tell stories about science, whether in the form of a 3d model of an exploded star, a book about the Universe, or a tweet about how fireflies glow.

Check out Kim's popular science books including "Magnitude: The Scale of the Universe" (Nov 2017) and Light: The Visible Spectrum and Beyond" both by Black Dog & Leventhal (2015), as well as "Your Ticket to the Universe: A Guide to Exploring the Cosmos" by Smithsonian Books (2013), all co-authored with Megan Watzke. Additionally, published in 2015: "Coloring the Universe: An Insider's Look at Making Spectacular Images of Space" with Travis Rector, Univ. of Alaska Press. More on Kim's author web site: http://www.arcandwatzke.com. (Opinions expressed here are her own.)