Inside NIRMA Magazine Summer 2018 - FINAL

A Retrospective on Information
Management in Nuclear Power
By Eugene Y. Yang, Principal Consultant,
KISMET Consulting, Inc.
his issue’s column reminisces about Karen Kulzick-Yang.
She was the founder and President of KISMET
Consulting, Inc. and also a loyal and faithful contributor
to NIRMA. Karen passed away on 2/27/18 due to
complications resulting from her four-year battle with stage 4
breast cancer. I am writing this article, not only to honor my wife’s
memory, but also to show how a young, enthusiastic “newbie”
embraced NIRMA to be part of her career.
I begin with Karen graduating from high school in 1984,
having obtained a National Merit Scholarship. This
scholarship took her to Washington University of St.
Louis’ School of Engineering, where she earned dual
bachelor degrees in 1988 in electrical engineering and
computer science. During the summers, she worked at
the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant in Minnesota.
Karen was hired as an engineer at Wisconsin Electric
Power Company (WE)’s Nuclear Department in August
1988, supporting the Point Beach Nuclear Plant. In
1990, she was assigned as the project manager for the
department’s first electronic image management system,
known as the Nuclear
Information
Management System
(NIMS). This system
supported electronic
recordkeeping at both
the plant and corporate
headquarters.
Karen, WEPCO office, Fall 1991
At that time, I was with The Granite Group, Inc. (GGI),
partnering with Dana Oman (former president of
NIRMA) and Walter (“Bud”) Sawatzky. We proposed
to provide WE with consulting assistance in the needs
analysis, design, and project management of the system.
I met Karen for the first time when we provided our
“best-and-final” presentation. We won the job and the
project began in January 1991. Even though Karen was
but 25 at the time, she was quietly assertive, smart, and
mature beyond her years. This project provided her
with experience in requirements analysis, project
management, records
management, budget/
cost management,
imaging system
technologies, local area/
wide area network
impacts – and office
politics!
Karen demonstrates how NIMS
puts document retrieval at
employee’s fingertips.
WE began to downsize in 1993 in anticipation of
deregulation in the electric utility
industry. Recognizing an opportunity,
Karen saw that she could help other
utilities/businesses with her skills as an
information management systems expert.
She took the severance package offered
in early 1994 and, at 28, started KISMET
Consulting. The irony is that she left as
an employee on a Friday and was back at work at WE
the following Monday as a contractor!
Karen’s first NIRMA was in Charlotte in August 1991.
An interview of her experience was published in the
December 1991 Newsletter: “She was told by the
records managers that ‘you needed more education in
our area if you are working with information systems.
You WILL go to NIRMA!’” She enjoyed herself
immensely with both the presentations and social
activities. The following year, she stepped up by
presenting NIMS at NIRMA in San Francisco.
Karen increased her commitment to NIRMA. In
1993, she joined
Turn to Karen on page 15.
14 Summer 2018 NIRMA.org Inside NIRMA