When Nancy Beavers was 12, she asked her favorite uncle what he thought she should do when she grew up. He suggested becoming an engineer because young Nancy had a flair for math and science. With a civil engineering degree and ten years of experience, she is now project manager for Baltimore based 'Whitting Turner Contracting Co.', where she supervises teams of engineers on projects ranging from office buildings to state of the art biotechnical research facilities.
Vinnie Paxton decided in college to devote his life to engineering structures resistant to earthquakes after witnessing the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that practically destroyed the city of San Juan in Argentina. In 1989, while working as a professor of civil engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, he witnessed another magnitude 7.1 earthquake. Leading a team of earthquake engineers, Bertero unraveled the sequence of events leading to the deadly collapse of the double deck section of Interstate 880 in nearby Loma Prieta and made recommendations on how to prevent future earthquake tragedies.
Nancy Mohn, who enjoyed math and science as a high school student in the late 1960s, resisted the pressure of her friends and guidance counselors to go into teaching. Instead, she majored in civil engineering at Penn State. Now one of the top executives at ABB Power Plant Systems, a Swiss supplier of electric power plant technology, Nancy runs ABB's department of commercial analysis, a department she created herself. As head of her company's business intelligence, Nancy has the challenge of learning about potential customers, business partners, and competitors around the world.
"Training in civil engineering can prepare you not just for field engineering, but for a career in management in any technology company," says Nancy.
The late Percy Z. Michener (who died in 1996 at age 92), whose crowning achievement in 40 years as a civil engineer was the 18 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, was once asked why he was so attracted to bridge building. He replied, "Why does a boy like an Erector set?"
What these men and women shared as students was a keen interest not just in how technology works but in how to use technology to solve practical problems. And as Percy Michener suggested, even the most experienced civil engineers retain the simple joy of watching projects evolve from ideas to some of humanity's most awe inspiring monuments bridges, skyscrapers, dams, highways, tunnels, harbors.
Civil engineers can take pride in being members of a profession that is without argument indispensable to society. If the structure of a building cannot bear its load, the building will collapse. If water cannot be channeled from the mountains to a fast growing city in the desert, that city will be rendered unlivable. If a bridge cannot sustain the impact of wind velocity, a disaster is waiting to happen. Today's civil engineers also work under the watchful eyes of environmentalists and intensely cost conscious project owners, whether private or public. But to engineers like Lemley, Beavers, Berturo, and Mohn, it's this heady brew of complexity that makes these problems all the more exciting to solve. If you too bring a strong "can do, hands on" attitude to problem solving, you might find much success and fulfillment as a civil engineer.
Opportunities For Women And Minorities In Civil Engineering
Another myth that thankfully is already losing credibility is that engineering is a male oriented profession. More than a few women now enjoying successful careers as engineers will attest to the teachers, career counselors, even family members who tried to discourage them from pursuing such a "technical, analytical" career. Fortunately, most of these prejudices are eroding. The engineering departments at virtually all universities and colleges are now "gender blind" in admitting applicants.
What stops many young women who have the math and science skills to succeed as civil engineers is their lack of knowledge about the profession. High school counselors and college placement officials interviewed by engineering associations seeking to gauge the perception of engineering among students remark that female students often think of engineers as men working at construction sites an environment these students perceive as possibly hostile toward women.
In truth, only a small number of today's practicing civil engineers spend their working days at construction sites. But what about a young woman who is excited about a career as a structural engineer or construction manager, someone who yearns to design and construct tall buildings or magnificent bridges? It would be naive to suggest that the construction industry is prejudice free, just as it would be naive to suggest the same of the legal or medical professions. What you should know is that the majority of those women preceding you who have persevered getting their engineering degrees and entering the job market are very satisfied with their career choice. A recent survey of 4,000 women employed as engineers in the United States, conducted by Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, revealed that 87 percent felt their jobs were interesting and that their salaries met or exceeded their expectations. Likewise, although about half of the women in the study were married, only 4 percent felt that their work created a serious conflict with family responsibilities.
In fact, opportunities in civil engineering for women and minority engineers are among the most promising of all the professions. A recent study by the Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council predicts that by the end of this century, white males, the traditional major source for the supply of civil engineers, will only constitute 15 percent of the net new workers added to the labor pool. Ethnic minorities and women will be the major source of new entrants to the U.S. labor pool.
In the civil engineering profession, these two groups are presently significantly underrepresented. Although women constitute nearly 47 percent of the population, women have earned only about 15 percent of the Bachelor of Science engineering degrees awarded through the early 1990s. Likewise, African Americans and Hispanic Americans, who compose 10 percent and 6 percent of the population respectively, have received only 3 percent of the Bachelor of Science engineering degrees over the same time period.
What this means is that most engineering firms, as well as government agencies that employ engineers, are making great efforts to recruit promising young minority and female engineers. The bottom line: these employers understand that if the current patterns continue (a shrinking workforce pool of white males interested in becoming engineers), there could be a severe shortage of civil engineers in the near future.
Numerous groups and programs have been started in recent years to provide moral, educational, and financial support to female and minority engineering students. These include the National Council for Minorities in Engineering, the Women in Engineering Program, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, to name a few.
If someone tries to discourage you from considering a career in civil engineering, is it because your grades in math and science are poor? Is it because you're basing your choice primarily on a desire to earn a good salary? Is it because someone in your family works in another field and expects you to follow in his or her footsteps? Perhaps the person discouraging you sincerely believes you have an aptitude more suited to another career. These can be tough questions requiring a lot of thought on your part. But if you honestly aspire to be a civil engineer and you have the grades and skills to back you up, ignore the naysayers! With the help of your career counselor and your own initiative, you can tap into the extensive network of groups whose mission is to provide you with the fullest support possible as you pursue your engineering degree.
