Hello! Through my posts, you’ve probably seen a lot of my personal thoughts, advice, and struggles. While that’s an integral part of who I am today, I wanted to give you a sense of my back story and how I got to doing what it is that I do today.

early years

Growing up, my siblings and I always had access to a workshop full of machinery and an eager dad showing us how to use pH strips on anything lying around. It’s no surprise that I fell in love with F.I.R.S.T. robotics club in high school and went on to pursue the design side of STEM. After inspiration from the F.I.R.S.T. robotics team and P.L.T.W. classes at my high school, I started the undergraduate program in mechanical engineering at Missouri University of Science & Technology. It didn't take long for me to realize that in a school of 23% women, the ME classes were going to be all guys. That was really my first experience with feeling, not just knowing, that STEM is stacked with dudes! So I shortly switched into the geological engineering program. Ask my mom and she will tell you that I've always collected rocks, ripping out the seams of my pockets, and insisting on the biggest and heaviest for her to tug out of the ground and lug home.

education

I first started working on water projects with my undergrad advisor. Then during my junior year of undergrad, I received an internship/co-op in environmental engineering with Golder Associates doing groundwater remediation and an assortment of field investigations (Phase I activities). It was exhilarating to work with a diverse & inclusive crowd of environmental engineers. The field work was exciting and it made sense that I loved it in small bursts: I love limited amounts of outdoors and also crave the recognition of efficiently finishing a challenging task. I'm a millennial. However there were weeks where I fixed borders on spreadsheets and begged engineers for more workload (that's the least fun part about being an introvert and starting a consulting job). Apart from the challenges of navigating an office scene for the first time, I could see myself becoming bored. I knew I wanted to go back to grad school to work in a more technical, groundwater niche. I flirted with the idea of a PhD for a long time. I applied to three schools thinking, "there's no way I will ever move to Texas!". So when a female professor I admired gave me an offer to research in Costa Rica through Texas A&M, I packed my stuff and moved to rural Texas. 2 years and a lot of new friends later, I was back in St. Louis living with my parents frantically filling out job applications.

professional engineer

Right meow, I live in Austin, TX and work at Jacobs, a large civil engineering firm where I get to find sustainable, unique solutions to how and where we get our water supply. I do this by supporting projects where we design hydraulic systems for wastewater including treatment design and conveyance (pipelines). When I started, I was the youngest (and therefore the cheapest) engineer in the office and I found myself on the most unique projects: constructing a water management plan for a city (figuring out future demands and how to conservative/find supply to meet those demands), organizing the senior engineers when they design dam rehabilitation measures for a 60 year old dam (and all the fun site visits and model interpretations that go with this!), construction management of a 5 ft diameter waterline (including creating the O&M manuals, overseeing construction out in the field, and reviewing LOTS of paperwork), and designing a filtration system and sizing pumps for wells which are considered groundwater-under-the-influence [of surface water hazards].

At first, I thought I’d be a groundwater technologist, specializing in large pumping systems, Ranney collector wells, and aquifer storage and recovery (ASR). Eventually my mentors moved on to other companies, we were acquired by Jacobs (previously CH2M Hill) and I did a series of soft pivots based on available projects and my talents. My career trajectory is not a perfect parabola and certainly never what I thought it would be when I was in high school. At any given time I could be conducting a feasibility assessment for aquifer storage and recovery (storing drinking water underground) or sitting out on a drill rig to take measurements during a well pumping test. Or, in the office talking with our company leaders, strategizing on the future of the industry and how we can be a market differentiator. Those are the things that wake me up in the morning. Being a part of something larger that effects how our communities operate and how individuals connect with each other within their communities. I’m pretty transparent about the bad days: endless paperwork and processes that slow me down, dealing with difficult technologists or clients, or feeling stuck in the monotony of emails. However, I can always bring it back to the heartbeat of my projects. I work in construction-based, community-supported, future-thinking, efficient engineering design held up with desktop investigations, political assistance, and interdisciplinary teamwork. The coolest part is how satisfying it feels to create something that impacts an entire city! Plus, there are many perks: business travel to beautiful field sites, working from home with my cat, and challenging myself every. single. day.

career path

Life is convoluted. It's twisting and meandering and sometimes magical...just like those collodial silver-coated ceramic pot filters I researched in Guatemala during undergrad. My plan looks like more of a river delta. Some of the pathways I haven't quite developed. What I do know is that I want to inform decision making, in both the political and social sphere. I love to be a knowledge base of information to share. I like to have my hands in all the water buckets. I'd like to critically address misinformation (such as recycling wastewater for drinking water) in the media, and to inspire women just as they've inspired me. I want to have fun, whatever metamorphosis this takes on! Lately, I’ve been talking about strategies for elevating our industry with future technologies and inclusion of all perspectives. I’m fortunate enough that I not only do I get to do this as a hobby, but I have a workplace culture where I can also forward these personal goals.

close of business

In between checking email, flying out to meet clients, and trying to keep on even ground, I sometimes have time to do my hobbies. I am trying to learn Spanish. I meet with my friends for hygge in Austin, TX every week. I travel as often as possible. And buy lots of plants...some of them, the cat doesn't eat when I’m away. I consume podcasts & books of all kinds & attempt all sorts of vegan recipes. I like to be involved in the political landscape. I am a #steminist. This is what a female engineer looks like. Don’t let the engineering mantra of “good at math and science” fool you into thinking the whole career is doing math problems in a cubicle. In fact, I think the last time I used my TI-89 calculator was in school! What drew me to engineering is a challenge for critical thinking and a love of how the world works.

xo