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Susan Ray is restoring the Everglades with the SFWMD
As advisor and tech supporter she’s the resource point person and “designated hitter” for twenty-six project managers and engineers on the Everglades
 Restoration of the Florida Everglades may seem very different from rocket science, but Susan Ray is comfortable in both worlds. In her previous aerospace engineering career she worked on the Space Shuttle and military aircraft engines, and now she’s with the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) as chief project manager of the Everglades restoration resource area.
She finds some similarities between these divergent engineering careers.
“The switchover from a personal level was not that difficult, because aerospace aerodynamics and water resources are not that different. Both are fluid mechanics, although one is compressible, the other incompressible,” Ray says with a smile.
Initial resistance gives way
Some prospective employers, however, had problems with her background. “When I first applied for various CE jobs, the employers put no value on my previous work experience. They considered my qualifications the same as an entry-level engineer.”
But Ray eventually found the job to suit her. Since 2000 she’s held several positions at the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD, West Palm Beach, FL).
Today she’s enjoying her work as advisor and technical supporter of the entire Everglades restoration planning department. Its mission is to restore, preserve and protect South Florida’s ecosystem while providing for other water-related needs of the region, including water supply and flood protection.
Ray is the resource point and “designated hitter” for twenty-six project managers and engineers. She helps prioritize projects and update the district’s strategic plan for upcoming fiscal years.
Many projects under way
About 200 different projects are under way at the district, Ray reports. But the number of projects is less important than “the number of aspects of a project.”
Projects have budgets ranging from $50 to $800 million. Project managers handle all aspects including design, permitting, land, monitoring, cross-discipline coordination and public outreach.
Childhood farming
Ray grew up in the farming community of McAlisterville, PA. Her family had a farm, but when she was a pre-teen they moved into the small town.
“Most of my family were farmers and most of the farms were connected, so we were always over at someone’s house or everybody was at our place,” Ray says. Her dad was chief estimator and VP of a road construction company.
Work in aerospace
Ray was a Star Trek fan and dreamed of outer space. She got a 1984 BS in aerospace engineering at Pennsylvania State University and went to work as a senior experimental project engineer at Pratt & Whitney (West Palm Beach, FL). She worked on the main engines for the Space Shuttle.
“These engines return with the shuttle and are reused. I was a project engineer developing an upgrade to the engines, including new pumps for the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen within the engine,” Ray explains.
Military engines
In 1989 Ray moved to GE Aircraft Engines (Cincinnati, OH) as a senior evaluation project engineer for the augmentor program for the F-22 fighter engine. She had direct oversight of its assembly and testing.
In 1993 Ray became a technical lead project engineer. She continued to manage her own project and also coordinated all military engine development programs in the works.
In 1995 Ray returned to West Palm Beach as a subcontract project engineer with CDI/United Engineers, working with Pratt & Whitney. She managed engineering schedules and planning for the Joint Strike Fighter program: an aircraft that can take off and land like a conventional aircraft or a helicopter.
Into civil engineering work
Ray’s husband is a Pratt & Whitney engineer on various rocket engine programs, in a permanent post in Florida. But the company was planning to move its military engine programs to Connecticut. The couple did not want to move, so Ray decided to qualify for another career.
In 1998 she received her MSCE with an emphasis on water resources and environmental engineering from Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL). And after interviewing with a series of reluctant employers, she found sympathetic HR people at Blasland, Bouck & Lee (Boca Raton, FL).
“They felt that anyone willing to undertake the effort of getting a masters and PE while working fulltime in another field had the dedication to be an asset to their business,” Ray says.
From 1999 to 2000 Ray was a remediation/environmental engineer, designing remediation plans for gas stations. “I started out at entry level to learn terminology, processes, issues, and how business is done in general. I was assigned to a senior engineer to learn the ropes, but in six months I was responsible for my own projects,” Ray says.
Moving up at SFWMD
She joined the Water District in 2000 and quickly moved up, from staff engineer to project manager, senior supervising engineer, lead and then principal project manager. In 2007 she became chief project manager of the Everglades Restoration Resource Area.
What does she like best about the job? “Taking a hundred different little things and making sure they all happen as required in order to meet the schedule and budget” is one. The other is “working with all the people and disciplines and understanding what they need and figuring how they all fit into a project.”
Lourdes Ramos, SFWMD’s director of HR solutions, says, “The South Florida Water Management District has a workforce as diverse as the ecosystems it protects. Susan, with her varied background, is a great example of how diverse perspectives strengthen our performance
as an agency.”
Ray has become a poster person for changing careers. “Plan on starting over at entry level,” she warns. “If you are competent, it will be recognized and you will be appropriately rewarded.
“As long as you like your new field, that’s half the battle!”
D/C
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