Emerson Exchange 365

Life is a series of moments…

Most of them flash by unnoticed.  And often we find ourselves suddenly aware that we are “here” but without a true realization of “how?” or perhaps, even “why?”   

When faced with the daunting task of this post – an introduction to “who I am and what I do” as a Woman in STEM – I spent some time remembering, recalling, and reflecting.  And a handful of really key moments came into focus; moments that set my path in life.  In most cases, I had no idea at the time just how pivotal these moments would turn out to be….

A free program introduced me to engineering

In the spring of 1977, my high school guidance counselor visited our Chemistry class to talk about summer programs at the University of Maine, about 50 miles from my home town of Oakland.  There were lots of classes available; the equivalent of Advanced Placement courses available to high school juniors.  I loved school and couldn’t wait to get to college, but all these wonderful classes carried a tuition price tag.  

So I raised my hand and asked about scholarships.  Were any of these summer programs free?  Only one, it seemed; something offered up by the Pulp and Paper Foundation, introducing high school juniors to engineering.  My guidance counselor mentioned it merely as an afterthought. 

Well, I had no idea what engineers did, but “free” sounded good, so I applied.  And got accepted.  And spent four weeks at a very intensive Introduction to Engineering program that essentially kicked off this woman into STEM for the next 35 years.  I’m so glad I asked that question!

And that led to a scholarship…

Fast forward a year.  I had been accepted at the University of Maine, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Georgia Tech.  I had my heart set on WPI when my parents and I got a visit from the Executive Director of the University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation.  Mr. Stan Marshall drove down from Orono, sat in my living room, and offered me a full tuition scholarship.  What’s a frugal Maine girl to do?  I became a black bear, studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Maine in the fall of 1978.

That turned out to be another fortuitous decision.  At the time, UMaine had a concentration in Process Control Engineering that rivaled that of many Masters’ programs.  I dived into the Laplace transforms, state theory, process control labs, and learned to program in Fortran using an IBM 1800 and punch cards.  I had found my specialty and I loved it.

And my first jobs in automation and project engineering...

I spent my first three years after graduation at Union Camp Corporation in Franklin, VA as a process system engineer in the lime kiln area.  For the uninformed, the lime kiln is the “back end” of the pulp mill, literally.  Not exactly the glamor spot, but a great place to learn.  

After three years in process engineering, I was ready to try my hand at project engineering.  I wanted to work on the upcoming paper machine rebuild which included a process upgrade along with the latest “distributed control system” by Bailey Controls.  Programming a new DCS sounded like loads of fun.

There was just one problem – the engineering department was comprised of all men, apart from the administrative assistants, and management was fairly well convinced that women engineers could not “handle” the contractors.  My interview was focused almost exclusively on my ability to stand up to construction workers! I got the job – the first woman in the Engineering department and went on to spend the next 8 years in project engineering with two different paper companies.   

Motherhood and Maintenance

About 7 years into my career I was offered a great supervisory role at International Paper’s Androscoggin Mill.  Again, I would be plowing new ground as the first woman crew leader in the Instrumentation department.  I loved working with the crew solving problems as an engineer and I was good at it.  The crew respected me. I was often able to get them to go above and beyond when some of my male colleagues would struggle to get the guys to leave the rack room!  This would be a great job for me. 

But I turned it down.  Although I had yet to announce it at work, I was three months pregnant with my first child at the time.  It may sound old fashioned now, but Maintenance was no place for a pregnant woman.  Crew leaders often worked 18 hour days during machine outages or breakdowns.  And while uncommon, there was also the potential to be exposed to pulping chemicals. I wanted no part of either of those situations while trying to grow a baby.  

And while it was an easy decision at the time, it had major repercussions going forward.  Turning down a supervisor role, even for a temporary condition like pregnancy, defined me as the “non-supervisor” type.  So I continued in project management and process control engineering for the first few years of motherhood.  It was a great combination, actually – capital projects tend to stick to a defined schedule, allowing me to plan ahead and get extra help when the need arose. And ultimately, I did end up in a Supervisory role. 

And now I’m in marketing?

So obviously, there are a few more moments between impending motherhood and my current job at Emerson...but I have to save something for my future blog posts! My children are grown and on their own. Both of them attended the same free “Consider Engineering” program at the University of Maine and loved it.  (It’s only three intense days now, but the attendees still are given first consideration for scholarships.)

My son, Jason, went on to study mechanical engineering at Portland State University in Oregon and now works for Fitesa in Hannover, Germany. My daughter, Alisa, realized that engineering was not for her. She studied anthropology, French, and film making at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. She is an artist committed to helping others; currently working on her Masters in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmith’s University in London.  

After nearly 35 years in technical positions, I’m now in a Program Management role with Emerson, developing  Energy Advisor software that helps customers in ALL process industries save energy through better monitoring, targeting, and reporting  It was a humbling experience to move into a non-technical role. I couldn’t do this job without my technical background, and yet so much of it is completely different.  My learning curve is straight up – and that’s both fun and frustrating.  Mostly the former.