Stephanie Bache
Civil Engineer
Parson’s Infrastructure and Technology
‘Bringing safe drinking water to millions’
Stephanie Bache is pleasantly surprised at how very much she likes her job. “I struggled with the major in school. I didn’t love it. After I graduated, I still felt uncertain. I went into the Peace Corps.”
Her mother is a computer scientist. Her father is also an engineer. Stephanie was originally a student of architecture, but her parents kept encouraging her to go into engineering. “My Dad thought that women engineers with good communication skills have it made.” She dropped out of architecture at Berkeley, and went into civil engineering. It was tough, and she didn’t feel totally committed, but she kept at it until she reached a point where “I was too lazy to switch majors, and so I just ended up in it.” OK, that’s not the most inspiring part of this story.
“I’ve always had some of the ‘save the world’ mentality.” Stephanie’s specialty is water and infrastructure engineering. She helps design and plan projects that bring safe drinking water to large populations here and abroad. She has found a place in the industry where she can exercise her considerable analytical and science talents, and “It satisfies my nurturing tendencies.”
When I interviewed Stephanie, she was working on the preliminary design for a large dam, analyzing how quickly it would fill up with sediment. The entire project will divert water from a river, store it, treat it, and then pump it into the city of Las Vegas to be used as drinking water. Ultimately, this could be a billion dollar program involving new reservoirs, pipelines and water treatment plants. Stephanie will look at environmental issues, water rights, cost and engineering feasibility. It is work that matters.
“When I was working in Africa, with the Peace Corps, I helped with a plan to get water out of a river and into a town that had never had water piped in before. Doing what I do, I feel like I help people in a very tangible way.”
Quite a bit of Stephanie’s time is spent in her office and at her computer, coordinating experts. “The female thing is good because I pull everyone together. Engineers tend not to want to talk to each other. Women do well thinking about a lot of things at once.”
A typical day for this engineer consists of “about 50% engineering in a math sort of way, calculations, and 50% meetings, phone calls, writing. So I’d say it’s about half communication and half analyzing of data.” On her present project, she gets to go to the field, the Nevada desert, every other week for a day. “I like water supply, because the sites are usually really pretty...in the middle of nowhere. I get a sense of how we are serving people’s needs in an environmentally protective way. Part of the job is to concern ourselves with the fish, birds and other life that might be affected.”
What kind of woman can do what she does? According to Stephanie, not some absolute egghead. “I think the word needs to get out that interpersonal skills are really important on this job. You do a lot better if you’re a good communicator.” Just like Dad said.
Additionally, “You need to be competent. You need above-average technical skills...math and science skills, and it helps to be naturally curious.” You need confidence, too. Stephanie seconds the research showing that, when challenged technically, women are inclined to feel “scared, shaken up, so it’s hard to think straight. Men just assume they’ll figure it out.”
Once you’ve got all that, she thinks it actually helps to be a woman. It’s easier for women to get into engineering school, and companies welcome women engineers into their mix.
Stephanie is usually the only female engineer on a project. How is it going with all those male colleagues? “In Africa, for sure there was some shock, but here in the U.S., no one’s too surprised, there’s no need to break down barriers.” The other engineers are a favorite part of her job. “I really like the ethics and quality of my co-workers. They are super-straightforward. I work with really interesting, intelligent people.”
She does, however, recommend dressing really conservatively for the job, in order to be taken seriously. At first, she wore no makeup, and stayed pretty frumpy, to assure that she would be seen primarily as another engineer, not a novelty in the business. She thinks its important to be noticed for skills, not visual style, especially at first, in order to be respected. “I didn’t call attention to myself right away, by my look. I’ve found that, over time, I can be a little more me.”
She works with women, too. “For some reason, it seems like all the big government administrators are powerful women. But as a water engineer...I’m not exactly viewed as competition. They’re fine to work with.” She does notice that “human resource women seem to resent technical women. The only work-related problems I’ve had have been with them.”
As a female civil engineer, Stephanie can count on being in demand, working wherever she wants to on this fascinating planet. Plus, she gets to use her brain, and save the world. Sounds pretty good.
Civil Engineer
Parson’s Infrastructure and Technology
‘Bringing safe drinking water to millions’
Stephanie Bache is pleasantly surprised at how very much she likes her job. “I struggled with the major in school. I didn’t love it. After I graduated, I still felt uncertain. I went into the Peace Corps.”
Her mother is a computer scientist. Her father is also an engineer. Stephanie was originally a student of architecture, but her parents kept encouraging her to go into engineering. “My Dad thought that women engineers with good communication skills have it made.” She dropped out of architecture at Berkeley, and went into civil engineering. It was tough, and she didn’t feel totally committed, but she kept at it until she reached a point where “I was too lazy to switch majors, and so I just ended up in it.” OK, that’s not the most inspiring part of this story.
“I’ve always had some of the ‘save the world’ mentality.” Stephanie’s specialty is water and infrastructure engineering. She helps design and plan projects that bring safe drinking water to large populations here and abroad. She has found a place in the industry where she can exercise her considerable analytical and science talents, and “It satisfies my nurturing tendencies.”
When I interviewed Stephanie, she was working on the preliminary design for a large dam, analyzing how quickly it would fill up with sediment. The entire project will divert water from a river, store it, treat it, and then pump it into the city of Las Vegas to be used as drinking water. Ultimately, this could be a billion dollar program involving new reservoirs, pipelines and water treatment plants. Stephanie will look at environmental issues, water rights, cost and engineering feasibility. It is work that matters.
“When I was working in Africa, with the Peace Corps, I helped with a plan to get water out of a river and into a town that had never had water piped in before. Doing what I do, I feel like I help people in a very tangible way.”
Quite a bit of Stephanie’s time is spent in her office and at her computer, coordinating experts. “The female thing is good because I pull everyone together. Engineers tend not to want to talk to each other. Women do well thinking about a lot of things at once.”
A typical day for this engineer consists of “about 50% engineering in a math sort of way, calculations, and 50% meetings, phone calls, writing. So I’d say it’s about half communication and half analyzing of data.” On her present project, she gets to go to the field, the Nevada desert, every other week for a day. “I like water supply, because the sites are usually really pretty...in the middle of nowhere. I get a sense of how we are serving people’s needs in an environmentally protective way. Part of the job is to concern ourselves with the fish, birds and other life that might be affected.”
What kind of woman can do what she does? According to Stephanie, not some absolute egghead. “I think the word needs to get out that interpersonal skills are really important on this job. You do a lot better if you’re a good communicator.” Just like Dad said.
Additionally, “You need to be competent. You need above-average technical skills...math and science skills, and it helps to be naturally curious.” You need confidence, too. Stephanie seconds the research showing that, when challenged technically, women are inclined to feel “scared, shaken up, so it’s hard to think straight. Men just assume they’ll figure it out.”
Once you’ve got all that, she thinks it actually helps to be a woman. It’s easier for women to get into engineering school, and companies welcome women engineers into their mix.
Stephanie is usually the only female engineer on a project. How is it going with all those male colleagues? “In Africa, for sure there was some shock, but here in the U.S., no one’s too surprised, there’s no need to break down barriers.” The other engineers are a favorite part of her job. “I really like the ethics and quality of my co-workers. They are super-straightforward. I work with really interesting, intelligent people.”
She does, however, recommend dressing really conservatively for the job, in order to be taken seriously. At first, she wore no makeup, and stayed pretty frumpy, to assure that she would be seen primarily as another engineer, not a novelty in the business. She thinks its important to be noticed for skills, not visual style, especially at first, in order to be respected. “I didn’t call attention to myself right away, by my look. I’ve found that, over time, I can be a little more me.”
She works with women, too. “For some reason, it seems like all the big government administrators are powerful women. But as a water engineer...I’m not exactly viewed as competition. They’re fine to work with.” She does notice that “human resource women seem to resent technical women. The only work-related problems I’ve had have been with them.”
As a female civil engineer, Stephanie can count on being in demand, working wherever she wants to on this fascinating planet. Plus, she gets to use her brain, and save the world. Sounds pretty good.
No comments:
Post a Comment