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I am currently a Senior Engineer with the Port Authority of Allegheny County. For those of you who may not know what that is, it is the local transit agency which operates a bus and light rail system in Pittsburgh and its surrounding area. My career began at Port Authority while still in college as an intern; first in the maintenance department helping with surveying and some mini8mal drafting work and then returning the next summer as an intern working in the Planning Department. When hired as a permanent employee, I was part of the Engineering & Construction Department as an Engineer-in-Training. Throughout the several different positions I have help over the past 23 years, I have had the opportunity to work on several large capital projects such as the East Busway (6.8 miles of exclusive bus roadway), the rehabilitation of an existing trolley system into a state-of-the-art light rail transit system and currently 2.3 miles of extension to the popular East Busway. As an engineer at Port Authority I have been involved with all elements of the project including: helping to develop the initial concepts, overseeing the design, coordinating utility interference, community relations, and monitoring construction work. The University of Pittsburgh was my choice for college so that I could be close to home yet still live on campus. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 1979 and am a licensed professional engineer in the state of Pennsylvania. The most exciting element of my career is being able to see a project through from the initial concepts through construction and ultimately put into operation and seeing the public utilize the facility. The greatest pleasure is to hear compliments from the public on a complete project. Early in my career as a young project engineer for rehabilitation of a maintenance facility, I was walking through the building and was asked by the owner of the construction company if I was looking for my father. Obviously, the assumption was made based on the fact that I was a young female who did not belong on a construction site. Since that time, things have changed a lot concerning females in the engineering field and we are becoming more accepted. However, even today, it is important that females realize that their initial introduction to the engineering field may be met with some resistance, but with some persistence the respect of the other members of the field can be achieved. My single piece of advice to all persons who are looking to select a career path is to choose something that they enjoy and they are bound to be successful.
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