STEM on FIRE

Latest Episodes:

37: Civil Engineer Specializing in Remediation – Ken Mika May 06, 2018

Show notes

Ken Mika earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and a masters in Engineering Management also from UW-Platteville and is currently an Operations Manager at O’Brien & Gere.

Ken provides a great overview of Civil Engineering career options and also talks a bit about research areas. He really likes that there are no typical days, every day is different and there is a mix of being in the field and also in the office.

During college you will take classes that you may never use after graduation but it teaches you how to just work through it and furthermore the text books tend to be black and white and you need to learn how to apply that knowledge to the real world.

Some really great advice is:
It does matter if if you make mistakes, you will make mistakes, it is how you rebound and learn form those mistakes that matters most.

Ken also received the “Young Engineer of the Year” award from STEM Forward

Favorite Book:
“Who Moved my Cheese” by Spencer Johnson

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

36: Mechanical Engineer in Manufacturing at Tesla – Kenton Harris Apr 29, 2018

Show notes

Kenton Harris earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia and is currently a Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Tesla. He started out in mechanical packaging and then went to work at a start up on a blimp design for the Air Force – but never was built. He really wanted to see his designs make it into production.

With his mechanical engineering background he helps out a lot with Design for Manufacturability (DFM) whereas an industrial engineer would be more involved in setting up the manufacturing flow. His expertise is in specifying a process to create a product and how to properly test the results and is really excited about robotics and automaton.

Some really great advice is:
“hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard!”
and in print on his wall 11 words to keep him focused
“One thing at a time, most important thing now, start now”.

Some websites he really enjoys: “iFixit” and “Adafruit” and “How it’s Made” – You Tube Channel.

Favorite Book: “Manufacturing Process for Design Professionals” by Rob Thompson.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

35: Mechanical Engineer and Project Manager in HVAC – Megan Schulze Apr 22, 2018

Show notes

Megan Schulze earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly and a Masters of Science in Management from Colorado State University Global Campus and currently works as a Project Manager at Dewberry and is an active member in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE)

She started out working in a nuclear plant and gained interest in the area of saving energy and also realized that every project needs a project manager. She currently specializes in heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC). As a consultant and project manager Megan spends a lot of time in the field, which she really enjoys.

Today she is really fired up about energy efficiency, saving resources and likes that she is helping the community and directly helping people every day by making them comfortable.

At the age of 22 she was let go from her job at that time and took that as a failure; her ah-ha moment was she realized that it was a failure of the company and the role she was in no longer existed. Megan also realized the power of a solid network – she was able to utilize her network to secure another position.

In college you need to take care of your self – take study breaks and exercise to re-energize your self for these challenging curriculums.

Her favorite book is “A Writers Reference” by Dianna Hacker

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

34: Electrical Engineer Working on Drones at GoogleX – John FitzSimons Apr 15, 2018

Show notes

John FitzSimons earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering (EE) from Purdue University and has worked at Motorola, Northrop Grumman and now currently at GoogleX working on drones.

At Motorola John helped design cell phones starting out in battery charging, moving into display technology, and then into high speed processor design. Jon then moved to Northrop Grumman designing Electronic Warfare (EW) equipment. His expertise is high speed processing and then interfacing that processing power to the outside world. At GoogleX working on drones, while is pilots license is not 100% applicable, he says it has helped. Outside of work he has done some glass blowing and metal work which has been quite interesting.

John provides advice that college is a place where you should try to take in as many experiences as you can and you need to take time during the day to re-charge.

John’s recommended book is “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” by Richard P. Feynman

This book is available on Audible and you can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice with no cost.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

33: Manufacturing Aircraft Engines and SWE President – Jonna Gerken Apr 08, 2018

Show notes

Jonna Gerken earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and Management Engineering and an MBA in Technology Development from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and currently works at Pratt & Whitney managing manufacturing engineers.

She indicates that in the aviation environment they have to design and manufacture engine parts that can be built at high volumes greater than 100,000 and for 40+ years. There is a strong push to 3-D printing, but not all parts lend themselves to that technology.

For manufacturing engineers many have come in through mechanical and aerospace engineering as well as industrial engineering – the key is problem solving. She is fired up about all the new technology in the manufacturing area and making parts out of materials that did not exist until recently.

There is also a myth out there that all engineers are really good at math and science. There are many engineers that were challenged by math and science but worked hard at it an therefore became successful – the key is to work hard and have the proper mindset.

One of Jonna’s habits that helps her be successful is to be organized.

Jonna’s favorite phone apps is Venmo – payment app and her recommend book is “How we get to Now” by Steven Johnson. This is available on Audible and you can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

32: Electrical and Software Engineer – Jon Butzine Apr 01, 2018

Show notes

Jon Butzine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in both Electrical and Software Engineering from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and a Masters in Healthcare Technologies Management from Marquette University.

The knowledge of both Electrical and Computer Science has allowed him to span the breadth from Enterprise systems to embedded systems which has allowed him to work on many different programs, and of course you will always be working in teams.

He is really fired up about Biological Engineering and the quantified self which also beings in the connected world, the Internet of Things (IoT).

When he learns a new subject, he takes the approach that he will be teaching it to someone else and says in college make sure you learn the material to actually gain the knowledge vs simply to pass a test.

One of his favorite internet resources is the Radio Lab Podcast.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

31: Civil Engineer involved in Leadership and Sales – Dayna Johnson Mar 25, 2018

Show notes

Dayna Johnson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Engineering Management Degree from Valparaiso University and is currently working at GE Energy and part of the Accelerated Leadership Program (XLP). She is also heavily involved in the Society of Women Engineers SWE as Director of Achievement.

Dayna is involved in the sales process at GE energy and is really fired up about renewable power and her interest in Civil Engineering stemmed from a field trip where she was able to see how a sewage plant worked, and decided that was her path, and yes she does like rabbits!

In college she recommends finding a smart roommate and to become friends with others in your same major so when you have to do group projects, you know those whom would make good partners. Also in college she would encourage you to obtain some leadership skills, like being an officer in a club or society, like SWE. In your career she says to stay flexible so you can take opportunities that come your way.

Her favorite phone app is Audible and her recommended book is “Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

30: Chemical Engineering with Environmental Emphasis – Kerrie Greenfelder Mar 18, 2018

Show notes

Kerrie Greenfelder earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with an Environmental Emphasis from the University of Kansas and currently is a Department Manger at Burns & McDonnell.

The foundation in Chemical Engineering allows her to work on the chemistry and biological side of water. She works a lot with cities and municipalities to help them solve water waste challenges and you guessed it, she is fired up about water and how she is able to apply new technologies for clean water generation and reclamation.

In high school she did not have to study much, but in college it was a different story, after getting behind a bit she realized she needed to read the text books and STUDY, STUDY, STUDY. Kerrie also recommends taking the technical writing course(s) as you will need the ability to convey technical information clearly.

As a hiring manager she of course will look at your grades but also at your involvement out side of school, community involvement and leadership in organization.

Her favorite book is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

29: Actuary, Predictive Analytics, Hit Show Survivor – Christine Hofbeck Mar 11, 2018

Show notes

Christine Hofbeck earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Business Administration from MIT. She has been a pioneer in the area predictive analytics and holds an FSA status from the Society of Actuaries. She has held various executive level positions and was one of the last two standing on the hit CBS show, Survivor.

In this episode Christine describes the different types of actuarial positions and an overview of what actuaries may do on a daily basis. She is fired up on how predictive analytics can be used as well as artificial intelligence in the actuarial profession but you need to keep ethics in mind, just because it can be done, is it ethical?

Some great advice is to work really hard early in your career and it will pay off in the end and that relationships are very important.

Christine’s recommended book is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

28: Data Scientist – Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning – Kyle Ambert Mar 04, 2018

Show notes

Kyle Ambert earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a PHD in Bioinformatics and is currently a senior research scientist in deep learning. His work integrates the fields of distributed computing, machine learning/deep learning, and applied analytics.

Kyle touches on the differences between deep learning (his focus) and machine learning. This requires a very good knowledge in mathematical modeling and if interested in this field a good understanding of differential equations, linear algebra, and statistics would be needed.

He is really excited about all the opportunities for artificial intelligence in the healthcare field.

Kyle’s recommended book is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

You can get a free book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com and can cancel within 30 days and keep the book of your choice.
Free Audio Book from Audible.

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