STEM on FIRE

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17: ASCE (Civil Engineering) President and Las Vegas Program Manager – Kristina Swallow Dec 03, 2017

Show notes

Kristina Swallow earned an Undergraduate Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Arizona and a Masters Degree from UNLV (University of Nevada Las Vegas). She is currently the American Society of Civil Engineers president and a Program Manager for the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. She has also run her own company and was a Lead Transportation Policy Adviser for a Senator in Washington D.C. where she helped shape legislation.

Civil Engineering can have many different paths; support community development, manage water resources, create building structures, develop transportation strategies, or be on the operational and maintenance side.

For many Civil Engineering positions, a Masters degree will be very helpful and in many cases required. One must always remember that engineers are taught to solve problems however Civil Engineering is a people serving profession, so you need to make sure you are solving the right problem.

Kristina recommends staying on top of everything in college, you cannot afford to get behind, and be sure to get plenty of sleep. You should get involved not only with your professional societies like ASCE, but also try to broaden your interests. Her best advice is to just say, YES, and to always be reading.

Don’t forget to get a free audio book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

16: Power and Computer Engineer Focused on Smart Grid – Salam Bani-Ahmed Nov 26, 2017

Show notes

Salam received his undergraduate and masters degrees in Computer Engineering while growing up in Jordan and is finishing up his Electrical Engineering PHD at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee focusing on Power Engineering and the Micro Grid / Renewable Energy.

He values the PHD aspect to his education as the PHD helps with problem solving techniques; you have to train your brain to solve problems. It is also important to get involved with industry/companies during college so when you graduate you have the theory along with the practical implementation side.

Back when Salam was heading off to college, he wishes he would have spent more time on the basics like physics, chemistry, and math. He also recommends that you surround yourself with people you look up to or want to aspire to and also you should never wait until the last minute, time management is so important.

The best advice came from his father who said you should not get angry, always count to 10 (or better yet 11) before responding. His father also taught Salam how to read the dictionary and still does today! At some point you will hit a bottom, that will simply force you to work harder.

Don’t forget to get a free audio book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

15: Geotechnical/Civil Engineer – Passion from being in Earthquake at 13 – Menzer Pehlivan Nov 19, 2017

Show notes

Menzer Pehlivan, whose passion came when she experienced an earthquake at age 13, earned a PHD in Civil Engineering in 2013 from the University of Texas at Austin with a focus in Geotechnical Engineering and is currently a Geotechnical Engineer at CH2M.

Civil Engineering has 6 types of Majors; Structural, Geotechnical, Transportation, Hydro-logical, and Construction Engineering. A Geotechnical Engineer specializes in Earthquake engineering/ground motion and a masters degree will be very useful vs simply a 4 year undergraduate degree. What is exciting about Geotechnical engineering is that every project is different as you need to make sure that every building will stand up and the ground is always different.

Menzer notes that engineering is all about solving problems and there is always A way!
She was questioned by her high school teacher why a girl would want to be an engineer, but her grandfather who believed in her said to go for it! When you believe you can do it, then do it!! and there will be many times you will doubt yourself, so find that one person who believes in you to bring you up when you are doubting.

Menzer was also involved with the IMAX movie Dream Big.

Recommended book is “Talent Is Overated” By Geoffrey Colvin.

You can pick up a free audio book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

14: Data Scientist: Math focused Economics Major – Nathan Braun Nov 12, 2017

Show notes

Nathan Braun graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an Economics Degree with a Math Emphasis. He is currently a Data Scientist at CoreLogic and runs a Fantasy Football Analytics website called Fantasy Math Fantasymath.
Data Science is a blend of Math, Statistics, Computer Science, and Business and there are 3 types of data scientists:
1) Modeler: Predictive analytics and Machine Learning.
2) General Data Analyst: Describes the data and makes it visual for business analysis.
3) Data Engineer: Designs the injest engines for acquiring the data in large servers.

Many data scientist pick up the programming aspect, and many programmers pick up the analytics aspect.

Recommended book is “Principles” By Ray Dalio

You can pick up a free audio book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

13: Mechanical Engineer Running a Test Cell at John Deere – Jordan Porter Nov 05, 2017

Show notes

Jordan Porter graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with a Mechanical Engineering degree and runs a test cell for diesel engines at John Deere. In his test cell, he can simulate the engine being run in pretty much any location around the world.

In high school he doubled up on math his freshman year and took 6 math classes in high school to help prepare for college. In college he co-oped and interned at multiple companies including John Deere,

He feels people skills are very important and enjoys getting paid to learn, fix, and break things. He says you have to learn to persevere as there will be many times the solution will be elusive and do not be afraid to ask questions. It is very important to pay attention to details but you do not need to be perfect. Some advice he received from senior management is to become an expert is some discipline!

Jordan recommends joining organizations like the society of automotive engineers: SOA

Recommended book by Jordan:
“The Power of Habit” – Charles Duhigg

You can pick up a free audio book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

12: Mechanical Engineer and MBA – Design to Program Management – Gregg Eberhardt Oct 29, 2017

Show notes

Gregg Eberhardt graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree and obtained a Masters in Business Degree from Marquette University. He started out as a process engineer in lean manufacturing and has also done design engineering and then moved into product management and program management. He believes you need to be a life long learner and is fired up about data analytics.

You should become self aware of what your talents are, that is very important, and you need to be persistent as you will run into obstacles no matter how good you are. He is also a 3 time Iron Man Finisher!

The two books Gregg recommends is the “Bible” and “Skunks Works” by Ben R. Rich

You can pick up a free audio book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

11: RF Engineer/Electrical Engineer with Biomedical Emphasis-Amanda Emrich Oct 22, 2017

Show notes

Amanda Emrich graduated from Northern Illinois University with an Electrical Engineering degree with an emphasis in Biomedical and is now an RF (Radio Frequency) Engineer working on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Equipment. She actually has a teaching degree as well, and went back to school for engineering.

During her undergraduate degree she focused on antenna theory but on the job is where she was able to bridge the gap between theory and how to apply to practical problems. Amanda recommends that you always explore new opportunities, join organizations in college, attend career fairs, attend conferences, and volunteer at STEM events.

if interested in RF engineering check out microwaves101

For women pursuing engineering, Amanda recommends joining the Society of Women Engineers: SWE

Recommended book by Amanda:
“Microwave Engineering” – David M. Pozar

You can pick up a free audio book from Audible at www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

10: Software Focused Electrical Engineer and Project Manager – Teresa Hutton Oct 15, 2017

Show notes

Teresa Hutton graduated with a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University and started out with an interest in image processing and was able to apply software techniques to implement electrical engineering concepts. Through the course of her career, she needed to make a decision whether to stay in the engineering role or move into project management. She decided she liked working with teams and enjoys making them as productive as possible and moved into program management role. She’s now a SCRUM team master/leader for a Server User Interface team which is almost a 180 degree change from the embedded software side she started out in.

When looking for new people for her team, she looks for individuals that are life long learners and and able learn new things. She has been able to leverage her participation in Toastmasters to help convey her messages effectively.

Parting piece of guidance is you have more potential than you can ever imagine!

Recommended books by Teresa:
“7 Habits of Highly Effective People” – Stephen R. Covey
“Game Storming” – Dave Gray
“Turn the Ship Around” – L. David Marquet
“Neverboss” – Kevin Crenshaw

You can pick up anyone of those books from Audible www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

9: Industrial and Systems Engineer focused on Data Analytics – Brett Bodenburg Oct 08, 2017

Show notes

Brett Bodenburg graduated with an Industrial and Systems Engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison and is pursuing a master degree in Computing from Marquette University. He notes that you will not find a lot of jobs simply called Industrial, they are typically under the heading of Data Analytics, Data Scientist, or Data Engineers. If you like Business and Engineering Industrial and Systems engineering mixes business with engineering. You can tune your industrial degree during your last 2 years of school, Brett chose to focus on the quantitative approach with data modeling. What is important on the job is to be able to take the data collected and translate it into business sense and be a good story teller to be able to explain the story the data is showing.

Brett indicates that starting out in the STEM field can be intimidating and you don’t need to consider yourself a genius, just put in the work to get through.

Free Audio Book from Audible www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

8: Chemical Engineering / President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers – Bond Calloway Oct 01, 2017

Show notes

Bond Calloway earned his Chemical Engineering degree in 1984 from Auburn University. He has enjoyed a 30+ year career at the Savannah River National Laboratory most recently as the Associated Laboratory Director of Clean Energy Research. The national laboratories perform research in areas such as solar energy, electrical grid, nuclear fuel, and fusion energy. Most chemical engineers will start out in plant support or possibly product design but the career options are vast, you can move into sales or the financial world to name a few. You have heard about Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks, Bond actually applied these techniques to chemical engineering before they were household terms.

As a freshman in college, he recommends picking up something new, as you simply do not realize the opportunities available to you and you should also learn how to present in front of people, the soft skills.

Free Audio Book from Audible www.stemonfirebook.com
Free Audio Book from Audible

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