As a young girl, Cynthia craved physical challenges. At age three she was climbing tall trees in her backyard with her brother Bill. By the time she was in middle school Cynthia had turned into an enthusiastic jock. Cynthia's natural talent and hard work helped her rise to the top of her game in track, swimming, soccer, and tennis.

Cynthia didn't build her first robot until she was a grown-up. As a kid she was too busy playing sports! But in 1977, at age ten, Cynthia first "met" two robots that would inspire her to become a roboticist. Their names were R2-D2 and C-3PO, and they were heroes of the classic science fiction movie Star Wars.

"The Star Wars robots were great characters and had great personalities. They were real friends and had a lot of admirable qualities. I didn't think it was possible to actually build stuff like that so I wasn't thinking about it as a career—yet."

In college Cynthia discovered she loved figuring out how things work and solving mechanical problems. The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), was the perfect place for curious Cynthia—now hooked on engineering—to learn about physics, chemistry, and astronomy.