April Choi works as an engineer at Kennedy Space Center.

And she’s also an accomplished whip-cracker. Literally. She holds world records.

Choi will discuss both of those roles as a featured speaker at Science Night Live, the adults-only event at Orlando Science Center on Saturday evening.

Her career path has included circus arts, dance, education and rocket science.

“My parents always encouraged me to get involved in STEM — science, technology, engineering, mathematics,” said Choi, who earned two engineering degrees from the University of Iowa. “I found a lot more interest in dance and martial arts and performing arts, so I pursued that for a little bit.”

It was during that era that she learned bullwhip cracking. Since then, she has held multiple whip-related world records, including world’s longest whip ever cracked. It was 365 feet.

“Longest whip was the first Guinness World Record I ever broke,” Choi said. She also has been recognized by the Online World Records and RecordSetter organizations, although the longest cracked whip mark is no longer in Guinness’ favor.

“They do not currently recognize the record that I had because it was performed with the assistance of my wife being able to provide more attention, and it was also made from ‘new material,’” Choi said.

A man with a long whip made of “original, traditional material” requested that Guinness redefine the category. Choi’s whip was made of nylon, a common alternative to the traditional leather.

“I have not gotten it [the record] back yet. I don’t think I will, because I’ve already thrown away that whip. It was 365 feet long, and it was becoming a pain in the butt to store in our house,” Choi said. “I got the record once. I have the RecordSetter record. I’m going to be happy.”

As an engineer, she has worked in the automotive, agriculture and aerospace industries, going to work at Kennedy Space Center five years ago.

She has linked whips to her work. Her description includes terms such as shock waves, compressible flow, shock waves and supersonic fluid dynamics,

A visual representation of the physics of whip cracking can be seen with Choi’s appearance with Destin Sandlin on the Smarter Every Day series on YouTube.

“We got a deep dive into the dynamics, the kinematics, the mechanics of how whips move, as well as getting the first Schlieren video image of a shockwave being developed off the tip of a whip,” Choi said.

“There’s been images of the bow shock, but this was actually the first time we got high-speed, high-definition video … watching the cracker go from this large fluffy body to a streamlined body, therefore accelerating velocity and eventually breaking the speed of sound,” she said.

Choi’s responsibilities at KSC are shifting from ground systems — think trains, planes, the crawler and Vehicle Assembly Building — to flight systems.

“I will be working as an aerospace engineer, doing fluids and mechanical analysis for structures,” she said. “My big, big, big project right now is crunching all the data of Artemis 1 launch to be able to better understand how the acoustic interactions occur between the NASA rocket and the rest of the ground systems.”

Orlando Science Center: Exhibit features ‘World Records’ pace

Science Night Live is open to ages 21 and older, featuring the four floors of exhibits at the science center, among them the “Science of Guinness World Records” display. It also includes stargazing, trivia, big-screen movies, live experiments and other activities.

Choi is packing a whip.

“I was going to do a couple of demonstrations, some targeting, some rhythmical whip cracking, and probably a couple whip raps and other things, just to show what you can do with whips,” she said. “And probably spend a good amount talking about the science and physics.”

Science Night Live tickets are $20 and must be purchased online and in advance. For purchases and more information, go to osc.org.

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com