Advanced engineering degrees expand career options

Grads conduct research in groundbreaking technology

Grads with advanced degrees get better salaries

By Diane Gow McDilda
Contributing Editor

Advanced engineering degrees lead to better pay, regardless of ethnicity or gender. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov) reports that the difference in yearly salary between a bachelors and masters in electrical engineering can be as high as eleven thousand dollars. A PhD in computer engineering could bring in as much as thirty thousand more per year than a masters.

But money isn’t the only reason engineers pursue advanced degrees. Employers rely
on engineers to increase productivity and expand output of goods and services. By continuing their educations to keep current
with rapidly changing technology, engineers
can deliver the best solutions and greatest
value to their employers.

Women and minorities are targeted for engineering
To maintain a competitive edge, industry observers say that a company’s workforce must reflect its customer base. A diversified workforce helps ensure that products and services are designed to appeal to a diverse customer base. Women and minority engineers are valued for the unique qualities and perspectives they bring to the table.

Schools, corporations and the government
have joined forces at the American Association of Engineering Societies (www.aaes.org)
to achieve a population of engineers that mirrors society.

For over fifty years the Engineering Workforce Commission at AAES (www.ewc-online.org) has monitored engineering job statistics that help set salary, hiring, enrollment and degree trends in the marketplace. The data EWC collects is used to predict the ebb and flow of new engineering professionals, including the participation rates of women and minorities.

Schools and businesses are using this data to develop strategies to reach out to and help underrepresented groups pursue careers in engineering. The first step is to help students understand just what engineers do, the role they play in everyday life and the fun they can have working as an engineer.

Strategies are working. More women and minorities are pursuing engineering at schools that target them, and many are considering advanced degrees.

Grad women get support at GA Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) encourages women to pursue engineering degrees long before they’re undergraduates. “We start engaging girls in middle school, because that’s when they start to move away from science and math,” says Sandra Song, associate director of the Women in Engineering (WIE) program. “By high school it may be too late.”

GA Tech encourages all its women engineering students to participate in outreach programs for middle and high school girls. “We’re trying to change the negative stereotypes about engineers by showing young girls positive female role models,’” says Song.

Grad students don’t just give support; they receive it. WIE sponsors a program specifically
for graduate women. Luncheons, seminars and informal mentoring help create communities
of graduate women to overcome the isolation female grad students often feel in heavily male specialties.

Hispanics a majority at UTEP
At the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP), Hispanics measure out at just over 70 percent. In fact, UTEP president Diana Natalicio has taken to incorporating Spanish in her welcome presentations to Hispanic students, especially when parents are involved. But male students still dominate the college of engineering with an enrollment over 79 percent.

The school credits some of its success to its efforts to hire minority professors. What better way to show students what they can achieve than to have a professor that looks like them!

Dr Patricia Nava, co-director of UTEP’s distributed computing lab, has witnessed the increase. “It’s taken many years, but the minority population has become the majority here,” she
states proudly.

And more minority undergrads mean more minority grad students. “When we increase the number of minority students in our engineering programs, we have a larger pool to choose from,” says Nava.

Demographic trend at UCSC
For the last several years, the National Science Foundation (www.nsf.org) has measured an increase in minority and non-citizen science and engineering students. Dr. Claire Gu, EE professor at the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California-Santa Cruz, says that her experience supports these demographics.

But Gu offers additional insight: “When domestic students get bachelors degrees, most of them go to work and then come back for a masters or PhD, while most foreign grad students come directly from school.” She suspects this is because domestic students have more flexibility to come and go.

Fellowships and combined degrees available
At Washington State University (Pullman, WA), minorities are encouraged to pursue engineering as part of Culturally-Relevant Engineering Applications in Mathematics (CREAM). This NSF-sponsored program provides fellowships with a stipend to graduate engineering students who work in local K-12 schools.

“The CREAM project is very attractive to women grad students,” says Dr Candis Claiborn, associate dean of engineering and architecture. The project targets primarily Hispanics and Native Americans and requires a twelve-month commitment. “Grad students can do this for
a year and then move on to a research project or interdisciplinary program,” he says.

Many schools offer combined degrees, partnering math, science, engineering and business disciplines. One example is the Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) program at MIT Sloan School of Management (Cambridge, MA). Graduates from the program are awarded both MBA and
MS degrees.

The program relies heavily on corporate partners to provide financial support and project experience. Applicants are required to have two years of work experience before being accepted.

LFM director Donald Rosenfield notes that companies generally want to see a diverse pool of students. “We’re very interested in attracting qualified women and minorities: talented people with backgrounds in science and engineering,” he says.

Myraida Vega Gonzalez: the youngest student in MIT’s LFM program
Before applying to the LFM program at MIT Sloan, Myraida Vega Gonzalez worked in the cosmetics industry…not behind a counter, but as a technical engineer in product supply at Proctor & Gamble.

The program’s requisite two years of workforce experience gave Vega time
to think about what was best for her. “Working gives you a whole different perspective,” says Vega. She’d never have considered operations, her current focus, had she gone directly to grad school.

LFM students are required to perform a six-month internship with one of the program’s partner companies. Vega headed to Spain in June 2008 to work for Zara, an international clothing design and manufacturing company.

Financial support is generous. LFM corporate partners cover seventy percent of the student’s tuition. If a student works for one of the partner companies after graduation, the corporation will pay the remaining thirty percent. Participants can earn two fully paid masters degrees
from MIT.

Vega is proud of her 2005 MIT BSME, but she’s amazed at how the LFM program has broadened her perspective. “We tie in with MIT’s Sloan students and even work with liberal arts and finance majors,” she says. “It’s interesting to see different styles of thinking and approaches to problem solving.”

Lester McCoy pursues a PhD at BU
Lester McCoy graduated from MIT (Cambridge, MA) in 2003 with a BS in aerospace engineering. He took a year off before heading to Boston University (Boston, MA) for his masters. But then he thought, “Dr. McCoy
has a nice ring to it.”

McCoy’s research centers on working with multiple moving robots acting together to perform tasks. It sounds like play, but McCoy spends a lot of
time working on graph theory.

He explains that understanding why things work helps researchers apply technology to the real world. “One of the things we’re working on is programming robots for deployment in a military situation to protect our soldiers,” he states proudly.

McCoy volunteers to promote engineering. He participates in panel discussions with Alliances for Graduate Education in the Professoriate (www.nsfagep.org). A goal of this National Science Foundation program is to increase the number of underrepresented minorities obtaining graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.

“Hopefully I can be a positive role model to young people interested in furthering their education in engineering and technology,” he says.

McCoy encourages grad students to make time to connect with people so their lives aren’t confined to research. In his off time, he’s a jujitsu instructor. “I enjoy watching my students gain confidence,” he says.

Karla Enriquez: computer engineering at UTEP
For some there’s no down time between undergrad and grad school. That’s how it was for Karla Enriquez. She headed straight for her masters after earning a BS in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP, El Paso, TX).

Enriquez opted to continue her studies because she enjoyed doing research. “I wanted to know more about the field,” she says.

Her thesis research involves developing a microprocessor-based system to test roads. She explains that measuring the movement in pavement can help determine if the road needs repair. Her work is now in the lab, but she expects to move out into the field (or the road) in about a year.

Enriquez was born in Mexico and moved to the U.S. in 2005. She notes that being a female from another country in a predominantly male field has added “a little pressure.” This has drawn her to UTEP’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), a program that promotes careers for women in math, science, engineering and technology.

“The resources and networking aspects of WISE have helped me a lot and I encourage other women to take advantage of programs like this,” Enriquez says.

David Delaine takes advantage of a fellowship at Drexel
Following a suggestion from an advisor to the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), David Delaine applied for a graduate fellowship with the NSF along with several jobs. He didn’t have to think long about accepting a full-tuition fellowship under a program called the “NSF Bridge to the Doctorate” with a healthy stipend over a job offer in power design.

Delaine earned his 2005 BSEE at Northeastern University (Boston, MA). Some students work between degrees, but Delaine took a hiatus to the Caribbean where he spent time on the beach and reconnected with family.

He’s now a PhD candidate in electrical engineering at Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA). Because his funding isn’t tied to a specific research project, Delaine and his advisor developed a project that best suits his interests: optimizing solar radiometer performance. “I’ve had a strong interest in energy for a long time,” he notes.

Beyond his initial fellowship, Delaine was awarded a graduate research fellowship by the NSF that will allow him three more years of funding to complete his PhD.

He’s on the fence about what to do next. He may continue in academia or work for an international aid organization like the World Bank or United Nations. “I really like the prospect of international travel,” he says.

“My goal is to bring renewable energy to parts of the world that need it the most.”

Sarah Scarboro: researching health physics at GA Tech
Sarah Scarboro earned her undergraduate degree in nuclear and radiological engineering at Georgia Tech in 2006. Medical physics falls under the school’s ME program.

Nuclear and radiological engineering may sound dry, but it has a human touch that’s a perfect fit for Scarboro. “I learned that I was much more drawn to humans than equipment during my undergrad co-op,” she says.

Scarboro’s grad research focuses on radiation protection in an emergency response situation. She is examining the use of a common medical device, a thyroid uptake system, as a tool to measure internal contamination.

Scarboro explains that she’s working on the best way to measure concentrations of radiation in people following inhalation of radioactive material. Her research is part of a larger project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and could prove invaluable to emergency workers. “Our calculations will help determine potential levels of contamination from a dirty bomb,” she says.

Scarboro’s in no hurry to leave GA Tech and may continue as a PhD candidate in medical physics. This degree will qualify her to work in the private sector designing and manufacturing imaging equipment for X-rays, CT scans and MRIs. Or she could work in the radiation oncology department of a hospital or treatment center.

“GA Tech is very good to its grad students,” she says with a smile.

Carlos Andres Aguilar’s heart is in medicine at UT-Austin
Surgery to replace pacemaker batteries may one day be obsolete because
of Carlos Andres Aguilar’s PhD research. Aguilar is growing nanowires
in pacemaker leads to power the device by capturing the energy of a
beating heart.

Aguilar’s had an affinity for cardiovascular work since his grandfather died from a heart attack. “There’s a lot of intrinsic value,” he says, “and a reward in knowing that my work has a direct impact on saving lives.”

Aguilar earned his BSME from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) in 2002, but chose the University of Texas at Austin so he’d be closer to his family.

Aguilar is a teaching assistant as well as a grad student. He encourages his students to consider grad school. “An advanced degree offers a lot more security and you can contribute
to a broader audience,” he says.

Aguilar cautions students to investigate the research strengths of a school or program they’re considering. “See if the areas pique your interest,” he says.

Mary Capiral: civil and environmental engineering at WSU
If there’s ammonia in the air, Mary Capiral can measure it. Capiral is working toward her masters in civil and environmental engineering at Washington State University (Pullman, WA). She uses differential optical absorption spectroscopy to measure ammonia from a surprising source: potatoes.

The focus of Capiral’s research is to evaluate fertilizer management techniques by collecting data on the nitrogen cycle. Measured concentrations are entered into a computer simulation model that predicts farming performance based on factors such as soil, weather and fertilizer management.

Capiral began her academic career in civil engineering at WSU and took environmental classes as electives. As an undergrad she began working at the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research and was accepted into the McNair Program, an intensive grad school prep program for underrepresented students.

Working on research projects was part of her prep. “It was challenging, but worthwhile,” Capiral says. She’s on track to receive her masters, with no immediate plans to continue for
a PhD. “But I haven’t closed that door,” she adds.

Capiral says candidates should consider the advisors as well as the research when choosing a grad school and program. “Talk to people in the labs and ask how the work is organized, if the advisors are helpful and if they make time for their students,” she says.

Capiral counts herself lucky. “My advisor’s door is always open. He’s dedicated to the project and to helping me succeed.”

Lisa Barrett: PhD candidate at Polytech
Lisa Barrett earned her 1986 undergraduate degree in architecture at City College of New
York (New York, NY). She worked as an architect for fourteen years before pursuing her masters and doctorate in civil engineering.

As part of her PhD research at Polytechnic Institute of NYU (Brooklyn, NY) Barrett is using
a three-dimensional building information model to help schedule and integrate work projects. One application is the massive rebuilding efforts at the World Trade Center site in New
York City.

Multiple architects and contractors, and lots of logistics, are involved in this project. “Our model allows various components to share information and determine how to allocate space,” Barrett says.

The model categorizes needs in an effort to avoid conflict. For example, knowing when and where a crane will be placed can prevent the creation of an unsafe condition. A three-dimensional model provides a picture of the situation and as Barrett puts it, “A picture really
is worth a thousand words.”

Barrett appreciates her years in the workforce. “A lot of information can be lost when a student doesn’t know the language of the discipline or have real life experience,” she says.

While architecture and civil engineering are similar, Barrett has noticed a different mindset. “With my architecture background I think in three dimensions, but engineering is more linear.”

Rebekah Brandt: PhD student at UCSC
Rebekah (Bekah) Brandt graduated with a BA in physics from the University of Chicago in 2003. The first job she found after college was with a law firm that specialized in international adoption. She loved the work, but was encouraged to go back to school by one of her co-workers, who happened
to be an engineer.

Not quite ready for grad school, Brandt relocated to Palo Alto, CA for a job
as an optical R&D engineer with Lockheed Martin. Many of her colleagues have MS and PhD degrees; they inspired her to enter a full-time PhD program in electrical engineering at the University of California-Santa Cruz.

Her research involves the study of nanomagnet dynamics, sized down to only tens of nanometers across. Implementations of nanomagnets range from providing robust memory
on hard drive computers to directing drugs within the body.

While there aren’t many women doing research in this area, Brandt admits it’s still a very diverse group. To break things up, she takes classes outside her major. “I’ve taken pilates, tennis, ballet and modern dance,” she says.

Brandt didn’t think she’d ever go back to school and never thought she’d study optics. “If you’re unsure of grad school, take time off to find out what you really want do,” she advises.

D/C

Diane Gow McDilda is an environmental engineer and freelance writer living in Gainesville, FL.

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