Dareen Awwad
Regional Support Engineer
Beckhoff Automation LLC

What drew you to engineering?

My journey in engineering began well before my formal education in Applied Physics and Mathematics. It was rooted in my childhood in Palestine, inspired by my father’s hands-on approach to problem-solving. He was not just a self-taught engineer but also a practical teacher. He often involved me in fixing household electronics and crafting battery-powered toy cars for our family races.

In school, when my peers had store-bought robotic cars, my family couldn’t afford one. Instead, my father crafted a wooden car body, equipped it with batteries, and we built our own remote-controlled car from scratch. This early experience ignited my passion for engineering. I continued to learn by watching my brothers repair laptops and old consoles, delving into home electronics with my father and exploring experimental physics through my dad’s library.

My fascination with mathematics was nurtured by my mother, a mathematics competition winner, who would create equations for me to solve – for fun! This early love for problem-solving and technology led me to become the president of my college’s physics club, where I taught 3D design and printing using AutoCAD and maintained 3D printers.

Professionally, I joined Beckhoff Automation, where I found a perfect blend of my interests and continued to expand my knowledge in automation. Working closely with customers to troubleshoot their applications, I discovered a deep satisfaction in solving complex problems. My career has been a fulfilling journey that merges early inspirations with professional growth in the engineering field.

What is the most satisfying aspect of being an engineer?

The most satisfying part of being an engineer is the endless learning and the thrill of solving real problems for customers. Engineering is always changing, which means there’s always something new to discover and master. But what really drives me is the chance to tackle challenges head-on and come up with solutions that make a difference in people’s lives. It’s incredibly rewarding to see the impact of your work and know you’ve made someone’s day a little easier.

Have you benefitted from mentoring or mentorship?

When I first started working with Beckhoff technologies, the entire support department acted as my mentor, and that experience was incredibly valuable. What I love about working at Beckhoff is the collaborative spirit; everyone is eager to help each other out. It’s a culture where mentorship and support are woven into the fabric of our daily work.

I’ve also had the pleasure of helping others and answering interns’ questions about career growth and my experiences at Beckhoff. It’s been equally rewarding to share my knowledge and support their development. Giving back and continuing the cycle of support and encouragement that I received early in my career is truly fulfilling.

How does the culture at your company make it inclusive or supportive of diversity?

At Beckhoff, we really focus on creating an inclusive and supportive environment for everyone. The company is committed to encouraging diversity, especially in engineering fields, through programs like the Talent Development Program, career fairs and internships. We’re always looking to bring in fresh perspectives and support individuals from all kinds of backgrounds, including women. It’s great to be part of a company that genuinely values diversity and works to make engineering and automation more accessible to everyone.

Describe your involvement in a project that went well.

One of the standout technologies I was involved in was the support of TwinCAT 3.1 Build 4026. As a core team member, I played a key role in helping both internal teams and customers with the transition to this new version. My work focused on troubleshooting and guiding the migration process, ensuring a smooth shift to TwinCAT 4026. It was incredibly rewarding to see the successful adoption of this technology, knowing that my contributions helped streamline the transition and improve overall user experience.

Any career or engineering challenges along the way?

My biggest career challenge so far has been navigating the vast array of products we work with at Beckhoff. With so many different technologies and solutions, it’s impossible to know everything. I learned early on that it’s crucial to recognize when you need help and to know who to turn to for guidance. By leveraging the expertise of my colleagues and building a strong network within the company, I was able to effectively overcome this challenge. The key lesson I’ve learned is that collaboration and knowing how to seek support are essential for tackling complex problems and achieving success in a dynamic field like engineering.

What strengths do you think diverse teams bring to engineering or design projects?

As a Middle Eastern woman in the engineering field, I’ve seen firsthand the strengths that diverse teams bring to the table. Our varied backgrounds and perspectives foster creativity and drive innovation in ways that homogeneous teams might not. When people from different experiences come together, we’re able to tackle problems from multiple angles and uncover solutions that might not be immediately obvious. This diversity also helps us better understand and meet the needs of a wider range of users. For me, being part of such a diverse team not only enriches the problem-solving process but also highlights the value of different viewpoints in creating more effective and inclusive solutions.

How do diverse educational backgrounds advance the field of engineering?

Diverse educational backgrounds significantly advance the field of engineering by bringing a range of perspectives and problem-solving approaches. For instance, someone with a background in arts and humanities might offer unique insights into user experience and design, while those from a more traditional engineering background provide technical expertise. This blend of skills and viewpoints can lead to innovative solutions and more holistic approaches to complex problems. By integrating diverse knowledge and methodologies, we can tackle engineering challenges in new and more effective ways.

I particularly admire robotics specialists. Their ability to integrate complex technologies and create cutting-edge solutions is truly inspiring. Their work pushes the boundaries of what’s possible and drives significant advancements in the field.

If you had unlimited time to apply your engineering background, what global challenges would you tackle?

Every day, I am profoundly inspired by the extraordinary resourcefulness of children living in conflict zones. Despite enduring the harsh realities of war, young innovators demonstrate a remarkable ability to turn basic materials into life-improving solutions. They ingeniously generate electricity, filter water, charge their phones, create cooking stoves and even build games from seemingly nothing. Their creativity and resilience reveal the transformative power of engineering, especially in the face of adversity. If I had unlimited time to dedicate to my engineering background, I would focus on tackling global challenges with a special emphasis on improving the lives of civilians, particularly children, affected by conflict. My vision would be to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that provide safe living conditions and essential support in these dire situations. I would also strive to create ingenious engineering solutions from limited resources to enhance the quality of life. The opportunity to make a profound impact through such meaningful work is incredibly motivating and drives my passion for engineering.

The post Diversity profile: Dareen Awwad of Beckhoff appeared first on Engineering.com.

Eunice K. Esguerra
Manufacturing Product Engineering Section Manager
Allegro MicroSystems
Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering • Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan

What is your background?

In 2009, my career in the semiconductor industry started as a new college graduate (NCG) trained in product engineering, circuit design and applications where I grew from a line-sustaining engineer of a range of high-precision amplifiers and converters to high-speed RF products and eventually transitioned to a pioneering team of product applications engineers developing full turn-key applications from ideation to circuit design, PCB layout and the evaluation hardware and software.

I then spent eight years in another company as an automotive product engineer supporting safe launch, yield sustaining and yield improvement projects, especially on ultrasonic park assist devices. My key contributions were record-breaking safe launch releases as well as cycle time. Joining Allegro Microsystems in 2023, the newest challenge in my career is my current position as a section manager, with 32 highly competent, talented and enthusiastic engineers in the Manufacturing Product Engineering team where I strive to develop not only the technical competence of my team but also to mentor and foster personal development, sharing my advocacies on project management, lean manufacturing, 5S and financial education.

Talk about the culture at your company.

Being a new mom and a woman in a male-dominated industry, I had concerns that my current situation might be perceived negatively. But even from the beginning, during my interviews with Allegro, my apprehensions subsided when I realized the value they place on family and even how supportive they were of me in my plan to have a second child. With a little over a year at Allegro, I have seen several women and leaders in engineering and executive positions who started with the company as operators or technicians and moved through the ranks. I believe this is a true testament to the inclusive culture at Allegro, not only regarding gender but also to Allegro’s diverse backgrounds as well.

From programs celebrating Women in Allegro to events recognizing diversity, it feels great to be a part of a company that not only supports but also nurtures DEI.

Describe a recent company project (in which you were involved) that went particularly well.

One of the KPIs of the manufacturing product engineering team is “holding lots performance” – the team needs to review and provide timely and quality disposition for any lot that goes on hold. When I joined the team, the holds KPI was crimson red. The team dissected the root causes – from the responsible group to the underlying nature of the reasons it went on hold and streamlined the process by identifying hold codes, reasonable cycle times for each and corresponding delegations for the actions needed.

The support of all the teams involved as well as regular reviews and follow-ups to the compliance of the improved business process led to the success of the project. The holds KPI is now neon green and sustained. But on top of achieving the performance metric, is being able to synergize with multifunctional teams to a common goal and serve as a catalyst of positive change.

What first drew you to engineering?

My earliest influence in engineering was my father. He is a civil engineer and as early as I can remember, I would always be amazed at how he fixed and built things. He also introduced me to technology at an early age via a home computer as well as inkjet printers. I remember enjoying the typing test application and eventually, loving Excel and how it makes data and computing so elegant.

My friends and relatives would always go to me whenever they needed to create documents, spreadsheets, or even print stuff and I would happily oblige. It was a joy to be able to help “engineer” things that would make life easier or better. Even now in my current role, whatever work I need to do, I engineer ways to make life (for my internal and external customers) easier and better.

Describe your biggest career challenge. How did you solve it?

My biggest career challenge would be the one that I have today – how to be a good manager (of engineers). With 14 years as an engineer, I have always managed issues (or my boss), but not other people (especially not engineers). I know how to improve KPIs, but it’s a different ball game to improve a team. I think I could never say that I’ve solved this challenge, but one of the most important lessons I have learned so far (or I’m applying right now), is to be the leader I always wanted to have and emphasize the importance of not just working as a manager but also serving as a mentor and life coach.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

Excellent metrics are good for a year. But kind words or gestures can last a lifetime. It’s always better to be kind than right. But if you insist on giving your two cents, the right tone makes all the difference.

The post Diversity profile: Eunice K. Esguerra of Allegro MicroSystems appeared first on Engineering.com.

Alicia Lomas has a long history of giving back, starting early in her career as an intern for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), cleaning up diesel and gas contamination in the Bering Sea. Two years later, Lomas was working as a process engineer at Daisy Brand, installing equipment and programming PLCs and HMIs on the cottage cheese line. Since then, she has worn many different control engineering hats at a variety of food and beverage manufacturers, including Continental Mills, Oberto Sausage Company, and Chobani. Today, Lomas is the senior chemical process controls engineer for Terraform Industries, a startup that strives to solve climate change using technology that can create natural gas out of thin air — literally.

And through all of these cutting-edge career moves, Lomas has remained steadfast on her own personal mission to build and mentor diverse teams. “Culture was what Alicia created in the controls group,” said one of her former colleagues.

Diversity can be a competitive advantage for companies, as it introduces new ideas and perspectives. For her part, Lomas has shaped engineering practices, scaled operations, and cultivated innovation, autonomy, and continuous improvement within every team and project she leads. In this interview with engineering.com, Lomas provides a glimpse into some of the people and projects that have shaped her journey.

Can you provide a quick summary of your career up to your current role? 

I studied chemical engineering and was fortunate enough to be hired as a process engineer at Daisy Brand. I was trusted to serve as lead designer and programmer for the cottage cheese process, which was a new product for Daisy. Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked extensively in manufacturing, primarily in the food and beverage sector. More recently, I’ve delved into the startup world with renewable energy and battery material recycling and manufacturing. Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of building some incredible teams that embody qualities I truly value — resilience, professionalism, innovation, integrity, and collaboration.

What first drew you to engineering?

I wish my origin story was a little more exciting. I was good at math and science, and I had a chemistry teacher who told me I should pursue chemical engineering because I’d make more than a chemist. I proceeded with my degree but didn’t feel connected to it until I started working in the real world. The first time I got to program a valve to open and close, I knew I was where I belonged. Programming equipment to manufacture products that my family and friends eat daily is extremely rewarding.

Were there any influential engineers who helped shape your decision to become an engineer?

I really didn’t know what I was going to do when I graduated, but I lucked out and had two engineers see potential in me and teach me a solid foundation, which secured my passion for controls engineering. Tom Lambert and Tom Lorkowski taught me everything about how to be a successful process and controls engineer, giving me autonomy, while making sure I didn’t fail while still learning important lessons along the way.

Describe your involvement in a product launch or design project that went well.

During my time at Redwood Materials, with the incredible support of my team, we successfully designed, programmed, and commissioned four 24/7 manufacturing plants dedicated to lithium-ion battery recycling and battery material manufacturing. We took the initiative to set new standards with our controls and electrical systems and developed standardized templates and function blocks to ensure consistency across the campus.

Our design approach evolved from plant to plant, driven by a commitment to continuous improvement in availability, common spare parts, user experience, and visibility for the executive team. The range of challenges we faced, the exceptionally tight timelines, and the diversity of technology not only tested us but also fostered significant growth in both our technical and soft skills. Today, there’s no PLC platform or new piece of hardware that intimidates our team.

Describe your biggest engineering challenge to date. How did you conquer or resolve it?

There was a cartoning machine that was meant to run over 20 configurations of products, including a base powder pouch and a smaller topping pouch of various sizes and shapes. This project was going to double the capacity of this production line, and many of the products could only be ran on this line. The vendor made a commitment to deliver the technology and they were struggling. I ended up spending much of my time at the vendor site and serving as the onsite project manager to gauge their progress, ask the technical questions, and push for solutions. Once the equipment was delivered and commissioned, there were still substantial barriers to overcome to get to the promised overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and to be able to deliver to customers. I put in a poor man’s data collection, utilizing the PLC, HMI, and communication software, which allowed us to understand and tackle the top issues. A combination of reprogramming, mechanical changes, and setpoint standardization helped us meet the ramp-up curve and deliver to our customers, with just a minor delay to the overall project.

In your opinion, what more can be done to increase participation of young people in under-represented communities in engineering today?

There needs to be more exposure — as early as elementary school — of what engineers do, including demonstrations and videos of how things are made. Engineering needs to be shown to students as something that is reachable, relatable, and rewarding. I loved food and beverage because the end products I was programming equipment for were things my friends and family knew well. In my experience, the people in my life have not really understood what being a controls engineer means. But when I took them to my factory and showed them how cottage cheese was made and I programmed it, they were impacted!

You have said you thrive on building and mentoring diverse teams. What unique perspective do you think diverse teams bring to engineering or design projects?

It’s the diversity of experience and perspectives that leads to innovative problem-solving. By bringing together these varied viewpoints, everyone benefits — whether it’s learning a new communication strategy or discovering a more efficient way to address a long-standing issue. In controls engineering, where we constantly encounter new hardware, software, and technologies, it’s impossible to know everything. Having team members with different perspectives can significantly enhance our problem-solving process. Sometimes, a fresh set of eyes or a simple question like, “Have you checked this setting?” can dramatically improve our chances of resolving issues quickly and effectively.

How do you motivate these diverse teams?

The best motivation I’ve found is transparency, honesty, and integrity. These two things lead to trust, and that is further harnessed by being in the trenches when it matters most, as well as granting your team autonomy and responsibility with clear expectations. Sharing the “why” is extremely important, as that will naturally motivate engineers, as well as give them all of the context to provide the most appropriate and beneficial solution for the business. Even sharing the not-so-good news that your engineer didn’t meet your expectations fosters motivation, as that is the only way people will know what they need to work on to grow.

How can those new to engineering develop confidence in the workplace?

New engineers should be given value-added tasks with appropriate guardrails. I’ve entrusted many interns, even those with no prior programming experience, with projects that led to significant downtime reductions or cost savings. The key is to walk them through an overview of the task, provide examples and resources, and remain available for questions and review of their work along the way. Timely, constructive feedback helps them learn and grow. When they are ready to deploy their solutions, having myself or an experienced engineer as a safety net, while still allowing the new engineer to take the lead, is crucial for their development.

I learned this approach from Tom and the team at Daisy. They had me migrate PLC code. Though I was initially nervous, this method gave me the confidence to advance my skills and eventually design an entire cottage cheese process.

What safeguards would you recommend to minorities who are aiming to minimize mistakes? 

It’s important to slow down, check your work, and get a sanity check. In the world of controls, I would recommend that newer engineers avoid trying to automate their code writing and instead go line by line. I’ve caught many typos and broader global issues in my code by doing what can be perceived as the tedious way. Being thorough and detail-oriented will catch 98% of issues. Then, when you get to commissioning, you can focus on the process and equipment challenges, not fixing coding issues. And remember, no question is stupid — seasoned engineers love sharing their knowledge and mistakes to prevent you from making the same ones. And if a mistake is made, which is natural, make sure you do not make the same one again by introducing countermeasures for yourself and that you own it. Integrity is everything.

Any comments on learning from mistakes yourself?

I’ll never forget the first time I faulted a PLC and brought the sour cream process down due to a negative timer preset. I made sure that I never made that mistake again and shared that little nugget of caution with my peers and future engineers. I also made some mistakes early on as a leader, where I tried to assume all controls engineers have the same specialties and skill sets. I was then missing out on utilizing the talent I had for the appropriate focuses while making them feel as though they weren’t meeting my expectations. I course-corrected this situation and saw the positive impact the change had on my previously impacted employees.

Any additional general comments or advice about DEI in engineering based on your own experience?

I want to encourage everyone to seek a mentor and to not give up. Being a female in manufacturing and controls engineering is challenging, but with amazing allies, mentors, and leaders, it has been worth the discomfort and the battles I’ve had to endure. The more diversity we bring into these fields, the better off the manufacturing plants, the startups, and the businesses will be.

The post Engineering is reachable, relatable, and rewarding appeared first on Engineering.com.

Fiona Miller is a legend in the world of electronics engineering. After selling her last company a few years ago, she pivoted to run a venture fund that invests in biotech companies focused on age reversal.

Miller’s first introduction to engineering was in high school in 1978. Computers existed but were uncommon, and nobody knew what they were. “One nice teacher brought a very primitive little computer into our math class; the computer read paper tape and had a single-line LCD that could display seven characters. This teacher let us earn class credit by playing with this fascinating computer instead of doing math, and it pulled me right in,” she says.

Miller went to Columbia University’s Barnard College to major in philosophy yet took one computer-science course as a standalone elective. The passion for computers came back, and she found she could play for hours programming the primitive computers.

“In fact, programming is a lot of fun and relatively captivating,” she says. “But I began wanting to know more about the electronics behind these magical capabilities — commands and programmed responses to make people laugh and so on. So, I transferred to the engineering school at Columbia to study electrical engineering. Coming from a liberal arts school, I wasn’t really prepared for engineering coursework … but curiosity drove me.”

Recently, Design World caught up with Fiona Miller about her experiences at college, her work at automated test-equipment supplier Teradyne after school, and what drove her to her various successes after that. Here’s what she had to say.

Was your university a supportive environment?

At school, there were only two of us women in our graduating engineering class of about 300 engineers. So, we felt a little odd … but the other woman became valedictorian of our class. So, it was clear we could engineer. We just got used to being in classes full of guys, and nobody was particularly encouraging or discouraging — we were simply treated as adults. However, in my last year, I wanted a hands-on project to fully grasp the abstract things that weren’t quite sinking in for me. So, one of my professors let me pursue that as my coursework for the last semester. Well, the guy who ran the electronics lab was a nice old guy and very supportive. Because everything was very primitive at that time, I had to etch my own circuit board and expose it in a darkroom. He got me all the supplies and showed me how to do it all. We ended up building a little autonomous vehicle and had a ton of fun.

In fact, while in school, I also worked on programming to be used on Wall Street. At the time, no computerized systems were used to run the stock market. It’s very strange to think about now. A Columbia graduate working on a brokerage project bought a PDP 11 computer and put up a help-wanted advertisement looking for programmers. So, I applied and got a part-time job working for him for two or three years. I vividly remember the first project was to write a program to analyze option yields for options trading. My boss ran around with this printout that I’d produced saying, “Now we can do this report every night instead of intermittently doing it by hand.” We were part of the stock market’s initial early use of automation and computers.

But software was too easy for me, and I really wanted to do hardware. In 1983, when I got recruited by Teradyne, I moved to Boston … and that’s where I still am.

After a year and a half at Teradyne, I joined a startup called Chipcom (now 3com) as the seventh employee. Working late nights with founders, I was there to see the initial company setup and laboratory buildout with new equipment.

What did you learn at this small operation?

Ethernet is all integrated into computers now, but back then, Ethernet hardware consisted of cables and external boxes … and was mainly for local area networks and cable TV. We were building systems to carry 10 Mbps — a big step up from telephone-line modems capable of something like 128,000 baud and bits per second. At the time, I thought why would anyone need so much data speed? But I really liked being in a small company where I was very close to creating something new — and not just working on projects that were a small piece of a big system.

I always had the bug to start my own company. Some engineers enjoy working on the bench because getting things to work is kind of like play — but for pay. In fact, I know a lot of engineers who liked that. But to me, it was always important to do something that matters … my logic was that if I don’t make a lot of money building whatever I’m building, then I’m not doing anything that matters. If I get if people to pay me a lot of money for what I do, that means I’m doing something important and valuable. At larger companies, I did whatever marketing thought we needed to build, and it was always marketing people acting as decision-makers who decided what I would work on. But sometimes, a project I was putting my heart and soul into would get cancelled, and it was clear the project didn’t matter … and all those late nights working didn’t matter, either.

So, it finally dawned on me: The only way I’m going to work on something that matters is if I decide what it is. Little did I know that even if I myself decide what to develop, it may or may not be a thing that people want to buy. Over time it became clear: Choosing one’s own project means if a project commercially fails, you have no one else to blame but yourself.

After Chipcom and another job, you established StarTek to supply network and cable analyzers. Eventually, local area network supplier 3com (acquiring Boston-area companies) bought StarTek, but you were spun out with a new company as VP of engineering. What happened next?

Because there was no CEO at the time, I basically ran Scope Communications. In 1998, that company sold to Hewlett Packard, which at the time had a test-equipment business.

HP was very supportive of women, and the so-called HP Way imparted business agility while supporting engineering innovation. In 1999, however, Hewlett Packard and Agilent split, and my division became part of Agilent.

There were a lot of changes and not for the better. In contrast with HP, where people had a lot of freedom and engineers were encouraged to take initiatives within their own small self-managed divisions, Agilent embraced a more conventional and centralized organizational model. It just wasn’t the same. Then, in the 2000 tech bubble burst, there were huge layoffs. I decided to volunteer to take a severance package offering eight months of pay. In that way, I had eight months of freedom to create a business plan and get venture funding for my second startup — Azimuth Systems — sold to Anritsu in 2016. Next, with my own money (and no venture capital) I started octoScope essentially in my basement as a consultancy. That sold to Spirent in 2021.

Of which of your businesses or technologies are you most proud?

I’m most proud of octoScope because it was all mine and, therefore the most challenging … and yet I was already a mature professional. I’d worked at startups. I’d managed engineering groups. I’d raised venture capital and knew I didn’t want to go that route with this business. I had to build a team, and we were a good team; octoScope was a tremendous experience. At first, it helped that I was already well known in the computer-networking space. Soon, I had more business than I could handle. So, I got two super-smart engineers to join me as cofounders.

Together, the three of us got the consulting business to a million dollars. Then in a move away from the consulting work, we developed a product. Of course, then we had to figure out how to put this product into production and sell it. We also had to build our team because sales were quickly growing. So, I pretty much went to business school right there — a hands-on school that forced me to read a lot of business books and figure out ways to scale the business up to $20M. Then we sold to Spirent … and then I didn’t have to work anymore.

Why did you choose to work in the field of WiFi?

Well, WiFi is related to Ethernet and LANs with which I was already involved. WiFi was billed by IEEE as wireless Ethernet before it was recognized it would need to evolve away from Ethernet to work in a medium that’s much more challenging than cable. All the cellular networks in different markets were subject to different standard bodies … though ultimately, they did end up converging. WiMAX once served as the main intermediate between WiFi and cellular communications; then came LTE, 4G, and 5G. A lot of the technology for WiFi and cellular is now quite similar, and Ethernet makes many systems about as seamless as it gets. But back when I went into WiFi, it was not seamless; WiFi was managed by different standards bodies, and it was a sea of acronyms and technologies. Military was always 10 years behind everything else, and that’s a market unto itself. So, yes — I mostly stuck with WiFi until the networks started converging; then, I started drifting to more work in cellular networks to eventually come to do a little bit of everything.

What was most challenging — the actual engineering, managing a team, or raising capital?

Everything about raising capital for my second startup, Azimuth, was challenging. I worked with a couple of venture funds here in Boston. We had to gather information for them and learn to size up the market, competition, and customer base — all that. Even creating a business plan was a new challenge because, as an engineer, I’d never done this before. So, it was an exciting learning experience. After I raised the money, a CEO was put in place, and I lost a lot of control. Even so, I stuck it out for five years. When I left, I formed a consulting business because I felt like I needed my own space and to determine my own course. Such freedom just went away after venture funding.

In contrast, early on at octoScope, we faced a serious technical challenge. We created a small test system in which we emulated real-life environments for residential and other wireless communications. People used to run around their houses and test their WiFi at different points. Well, our job was to test WiFi setups in a small enclosure … and get that enclosure to behave like a big house. The multi-factor physics of a house involves places where there are walls and other reflection points (such as those from furniture) and varied travel distances based on how big the house is. We couldn’t just test WiFi devices in clean test-enclosure environments and expect to catch all potential issues. No, we had to recreate real environments with multipath motion interference, traffic loads, and other challenges while monitoring how a given device responds to all these impairments.

To put a finer point on it: Wireless devices and their related software are complex and must be adaptive to various phenomena in open air, such as interference and sudden traffic. Testing these technologies required a control system to replicate real-world challenges and record device responses. This was a multi-dimensional challenge involving very serious RF multipath issues — issues having PhD-level complexity due to the physics from multipath as well as motion emulation and software automation to create different scenarios for testing and recording device behavior.

We ultimately succeeded, and our system became the de facto standard for the whole industry — used by wireless operators, including AT&T, Verizon, France Telecom, and others worldwide. In the process of this massive adoption and serving customers around the globe, I flew enough to get AAdvantage 3-Million Miler status with American Airlines. It was a powerful system, and I wasn’t alone; my cofounders brought in some very smart people. I had to learn how to sell and market it, and that was a new challenge. Then, every year, there seemed to be a different challenge; we became so big that we had to learn how to best grow the team and manage production to maintain the highest quality … things like that. Many very different things must be confronted as a company grows, and we needed to learn something new every year.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Gosh, it always felt like a very anxious and stressful time; I never knew how things were going to end up. So, I would ask myself to chill out a little bit; know that everything’s going to work out one way or another; and understand that getting stressed out never helps. I’d also say just take it easy; think with a clear head; and work as a team member. In fact, that last item might be most important: Nobody can carry the whole load … I’d tell myself that you don’t have to carry the whole load or boil the ocean on your own. There are others, and there needs to be a team.

If you had unlimited time, what global challenges would you be interested in tackling?

I think right now we’re in the age of AI, biotech, and synthetic biology. Networking is done; we did it. Networking technologies are going to keep evolving and getting faster, but their main era of innovation is done. My son just finished college a year ago, and he wasn’t interested in computing. Unlike when I was young (and computers were just coming online and cool), computers now are old news. I tried to get him to do some programming, and he wanted to play with genes and create engineered organisms. So, he went into synthetic biology. This is the age, right?

But there’s a lot of technology in biotech — including computing, automation, AI, and machine learning. We’re kind of still doing engineering and programming, but now we’re working with genomes. People who used to be in engineering, a lot of them are going into biology, and now they’re flipping genes and creating different organisms or trying to fix imperfections in the design of humans because God knows we’ve got a lot of issues we could fix so we could be healthy. On the longer ride, that’s kind of the next wave.

To learn about Miller’s current projects, visit mlinarsky.com.

The post The woman who creates engineering companies appeared first on Engineering.com.

Christine King has had quite a life journey — from being a single mom with no money or degree and living in a trailer with an 18-month-old son (while on welfare) to becoming the world’s first CEO of a semiconductor company.

In contrast with those on more typical journeys, King had none of the resources or connections that can springboard a career. She is adamant that success in business is not dictated by a person’s demographic or early life challenges.

Her work in engineering began in the 1970s. Knowing that education was a path to a better future and wanting to impress someone, she decided to attend a local community college and take engineering classes as her electives. So, it was pure happenstance that she entered the field of engineering at all.

“I saw the books and thought, ‘Oh my gosh — I didn’t take very much math or science in high school. How am I going to do this?’ Yet I got a 4.0 GPA. Then with only one semester under my belt, I was offered a job by AT&T. They had a discrimination lawsuit against them, and they were looking for any technical females. It was then I realized one can make money at this. So, I decided to continue with the electrical engineering degree.”

After graduating, King held various positions at IBM before her job was eliminated. “Then I decided I’d figure out how to sell IBM semiconductors to the outside world. In those days, IBM was a captive supplier.” She started the IBM application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) business, and quite quickly, that business grew to over a billion dollars … becoming the number-one ASIC supplier in the world.

“When it got big enough to need an executive to lead the business, the team picked somebody else — someone in the good old boy network who didn’t know anything about the business — rather than picking me, who had started the business and nurtured it from zero to a billion dollars. That was a huge setback for me and extremely difficult,” admits King.

“I cried for a couple of days and then decided: If I can’t go through, I’ll go around. My logic at the time was that if I built a business of this massive size and the management structure still didn’t let me be a lead executive, then it was never going to happen. So, I decided to change course and go into sales and build a field-engineering team, which had a different management chain.”

Now King underscores that adversity is the mother of all things great. If you’re knocking your head against the wall and you can’t go through, she says you’d better figure out a way to go around — whether at your current company or somewhere else with more opportunity.

When asked about other challenges she’s faced, King had this to say: “I excelled at digital engineering, so microprocessors were my focus. In 1975, when microprocessors were new, I built a computer … so I was always good in the digital realm. Then I was tasked with managing about 100 people doing analog design … a domain in which things are not so clear. I first had to learn how to count on my people and their technical savvy — and get good at discerning who knew what, who was really great at their job, and who I could trust to deliver good technical solutions. That was my biggest challenge — going into a technical arena that wasn’t my area of expertise.

“Since then, I’ve had to switch arenas a lot … everything involves engineering and technology, but nobody can be an expert at the detail level in everything. So, you must learn how to pick the right people and trust them.”

King’s message to young people considering a career in engineering is straightforward: “This field is the basis of all today’s great technologies … and it’s fascinating how some of these designs actually work. In addition, one can make a lot of money in engineering, and the doors are wide open to various opportunities to have a hugely successful career and take care of family, whatever kind of family that may be.”

She admits there are industries that are more welcoming to female engineers than others. “I think the semiconductor industry is tough, although we’re moving the needle there. In contrast, fields related to biology are more welcoming to women. My current healthcare software company is very welcoming and employs a lot of women, though it’s still very challenging to get to the top.”

Regarding diversity in engineering, King appreciates it in forms — including gender, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity. “My teams most benefit from diverse thinking and diverse capabilities. For example, it’s helpful to have entrepreneurs who freewheel with potentially great ideas. It’s also helpful to have more diligent folks who are perhaps less aggressive but more task-oriented to execute specific details. Having diverse points of view and personalities makes for the strongest teams.”

In her recent book, Breaking Through the Silicon Ceiling, King aims to illustrate that one doesn’t need an Ivy League education or parents with connections to succeed in engineering. “You can be a welfare mom, and if you work hard and smart, you can succeed in a very technical career. I think we just need to do more outreach, share more stories, and assist more underserved communities.”

For those new to engineering, King cites several ways to develop confidence in the workplace. “Obviously, having the right level of education is important, but I believe we learn most by doing — and have the best opportunities to become leaders where fields have ‘white space’ — in other words, where new technology areas are just emerging.” For King, this so-called white space was in microprocessors. “Nobody knew about microprocessors, so I learned about them … and that put me on a level playing field with engineers 20 years in. Today, I think AI offers a lot of career opportunities to young engineers.” King also points out that if nobody else wants to do something, new engineers can step in and do it … and that’s the type of thing that can help young engineers accelerate their careers.

King also agrees that alternative degree paths in engineering are valuable, but don’t necessarily need to be the end goal. “I started my journey in engineering at a community college, and that was a great jumping off place for me — so maybe it’s no wonder I totally support community educational programs. I’ve had PhDs from MIT and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and you name it working for me — and I’m on a board alongside of the President of Stanford University. So indeed, my community college start really took me a long way. So, whatever education is available to us, we ought to take it. That said, I’d warn young students: Don’t let where you first go to school limit your aspirations and achievements.”

Along the same lines, King asserts that education should never really stop (especially for those who work in engineering fields) because technology is always moving so fast. “I think something that always benefitted and differentiated me was my belief that I can assume any task and get it done. More important than my initial degree is all I’ve learned in the workplace.”

When asked about current global challenges she’d be interested in tackling, King’s response was modest.

“I’m big at tackling whatever problems are in front of me. I would love to say that I’m doing something to save the planet or humanity. Honestly, though, I love anything that presents a challenge … whether it’s the most minor thing or incredibly monumental. For example, I’d never worked in healthcare and then assumed the CEO position at a healthcare software company and love it. So, I don’t necessarily think that big, but love tackling whatever is thrown at me. That said, I’m currently on a mission to help people achieve success in their careers and life — and I appreciate the opportunity.”

To learn about King’s current projects, visit christineking.com. Her book, Breaking Through the Silicon Ceiling, is available on Amazon.

The post If you can’t go through, go around appeared first on Engineering.com.

Alicia Gilpin — known on her popular podcast Automation Ladies and LinkedIn as Ali G — is the CEO of Process and Controls Engineering LLC. More than that, Gilpin is a champion for a more approachable and egalitarian culture in engineering.

It wasn’t an influential engineer or family member in the field who encouraged Gilpin to pursue a degree and career in the field; rather, it was the specific coursework that drew her. “Neither of my parents or close family members were engineers. In fact, there was no one; an engineering career is just what I thought I wanted. English is my second language, so I was drawn to the certainty that math could provide.”

In college, Gilpin studied chemical engineering and always assumed she wanted to spend her whole career in that subspecialty. But just a few years into her work, her position was downsized … and Gilpin was forced to find other employment.

When asked how she chose to pursue systems engineering when her chemical engineering position was eliminated, Gilpin is pretty frank: “I didn’t have any other options. The place where I lived — Phoenix — was dominated by the semiconductor industry, from which I was rejected because my college GPA was not high enough.”

After a lot of job hunting, Gilpin took work with a systems-integration firm that was hiring engineers like her as well as others without such degrees — or, in some cases, with technical training gained during U.S. military service — to educate them into industrial- automation and control-system specialist positions. In some cases, the control-systems and connectivity work produced by these employees was just like that produced by professional engineers … except it lacked the P.E. stamp.

This experience informs Gilpin’s views today. On the topic of ways to make engineering more accessible to workers sorely needed in the industry, Gilpin has decidedly proletariat leanings: “Please God, help the people see that associates will save us from ourselves. In the engineering industry, we have a strange stigma [against those with these degrees], and I’m sick of it. If a person gets an associate’s degree, I accept them. I’m not going to worry about the rest of the world when it comes to this topic.”

When asked how industry might maintain quality work should it slowly come to employ workers with a greater variety of degree types (such as associate’s degrees), Gilpin had this to say: “Our industry is massive. That’s why I created the OT SCADA CON event — to expose people to automation knowledge they don’t yet have and would probably love.”

After her control-systems position, Gilpin pursued field-engineering work, initially traveling the country to design and initiate control systems for coffee roasters. Assuming responsibility for system startups gave Gilpin insights into how design and field engineering need to be connected. In 2018, after yet more work, including a stint that had her essentially running a control-panel shop, Gilpin founded her process and machine controls-integration business. However, it was a few more years before she quit her job to dedicate herself to her fledgling business full time. Within months, word of her new availability had spread through Gilpin’s professional network, and she had her first large purchase order. Hurdles in the form of insurance, documentation, quoting, bookkeeping, and contract requirements cleared one by one, and the business took off.

Gilpin cites her comfort with the possibility of failure — always looming in the earliest days — as a core component of her success. Today, her business continues to grow and evolve.

Making engineering more practical

Gilpin is passionate about increasing participation in engineering by young people from underrepresented communities. “There are wonderful people out there pushing a fabulous agenda — including the founder of the New American Manufacturing Renaissance, Andrew Crowe. Likewise, my engineer co-host Nikki Gonzales and I built our Automation Ladies podcast to help show various representations.”

In yet another effort to support her contacts in the industry, years ago, Gilpin began curating and sharing on social media interesting and educational animations and other YouTube videos on how automation components, processes, and systems work. In fact, those efforts are in part the reason why her professional network is so large today.

Gilpin has also founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called Kids PLC Kits that procures donations of real industrial-grade components such as PLCs and HMIs from component suppliers and sends them in packages to young people.

Some goals of Kids PLC Kits are to familiarize young people with real industrial and automation control design (just like European students in formal programs); remove the stigma of industrial-related technician and trades-type work involving programming and wiring; impart marketable skills at an early age; and spread more awareness about careers in automation and industrial controls.

Of course, young folks new to the field must gain confidence in engineering over time. “First, one must understand that an engineer’s job is actually to serve people first and then processes. My confidence rose after years of predicting what engineering problem was coming next.”

Gilpin also recommends certain safeguards to anyone aiming to minimize mistakes: “Humans are mistake machines. Skilled engineers just have lower mistake rates because they analyze their own data.”

“In engineering, the best approach is to maintain really solid communications practices. So, say a project is going to go bad. Well, the sooner someone brings that up, the better the outcome will be for the whole group,” adds Gilpin. “If people are afraid to show management slips, when it comes down to crunch time, the whole team will suffer.”

To connect with Gilpin, visit AutomationLadies.io.

The post Many irons in the fire for engineering appeared first on Engineering.com.

Growing up near the seashore of Pondicherry, India, Ahamed Azigar Ali was the first in his family to graduate from high school, not to mention go to college. But the seeds of an engineering education came early, when he first started school at age five. From that point, Ali’s father worked to grow a passion for engineering by teaching him foundational skills, such as building toys and tools with available materials and repairing household electronic equipment.

“My father told me, ‘Study well and become an engineer,’” Ali recalled. “He believed that becoming an engineer would lift our family out of poverty. This early motivation shaped my educational journey, driving me to excel academically with the primary goal of economic stability for my family.”

However, his perspective on engineering evolved significantly during his college years at Pondicherry University. Ali said that he was fortunate to have inspiring professors who encouraged him to see beyond the immediate financial benefits of an engineering career.

“During my college years, my professors further shaped my path by introducing complex real-world problems in the field of engineering and teaching me how to solve them using scientific methods and research techniques. A particularly memorable learning experience was a research project in my college days in which I conducted comprehensive practical experimentation and MATLAB-based software simulation to study the performance of a high-voltage 3-phase induction drive when abnormally switched to a single phase. This project exemplified the application of theoretical knowledge to practical challenges and solidified my commitment to research and innovation in engineering,” he said.

Another pivotal influence during this period was Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who was the President of India at the time. Learning about Kalam’s life, from his modest beginnings to his achievements as a top scientist and eventually President, profoundly impacted Ali.

“I realized that engineering could be more than a means to improve my family’s economic status; it could also be a way to make a meaningful impact on society,” he said. “This shift in perspective transformed my approach to my studies and career. After uplifting my family out of poverty and supporting my siblings to pursue engineering, today, as a Senior Director of Technology at Advantage Solutions, I aim to make a positive impact on humanity through innovation and engineering.”

Challenges and opportunities

Ali explained that as an engineer, he has been involved in numerous product launches and technology development projects across diverse business domains.

“One particularly exciting and impactful project was when a leading multinational, publicly traded company developing system used car dealership approached me to license my innovation, a ‘Blockchain-based Provenance System,’ for solving the most pressing used car vehicle history verification problem. The used car dealership market in India is highly unorganized, posing significant challenges in verifying vehicle history, including accidents, insurance claims, ownership, and maintenance records,” he said.

Originally developed to verify user profile information on an online matrimony platform through a blockchain-based verification network, this system needed to be adapted for a completely different application — verifying the history of used cars. This required integrating insurance companies, car dealerships, major car maintenance workshops, and vehicle registration entities into the verification process.

According to Ali, adapting the underlying solution approach for a new business domain necessitated extensive research to understand the specific requirements and constraints of the unorganized used car sector in India.

“Collaboration with the diverse stakeholders was essential to ensure the system’s comprehensiveness and accuracy. Additionally, pushing the boundaries of the solution approach to accommodate these new parameters required significant innovation and problem-solving. With relentless effort and effective collaboration with the industry stakeholders, I successfully extended my innovative solution to verify used car histories.”

“Adapting my innovation to address these challenges required substantial modifications and enhancements to my original innovation system. And implementing this enhanced solution revolutionized the verification process for used car histories, enabling the company to provide transparent, reliable, and verifiable vehicle information. This transformation not only improved the credibility and trust in the used car market but also significantly altered the business dynamics of used car dealerships.”

Future thoughts

Ali said that increasing the participation of young people from underrepresented communities in engineering is essential for fostering diversity and innovation.

“To achieve this, I would recommend starting with incorporating innovation and entrepreneurship education into school curricula,” he said. “By teaching students STEM concepts, problem-solving skills, and the process of innovation at the early age of schooling, we can nurture their potential as young innovators.”

He also feels strongly that accomplished engineers should reach out to young people in their community and share their success stories. He actively volunteers in his local community through a foundation to share his career experiences and successes with kids and provide mentorship.

“Similarly, schools should take steps to invite and encourage accomplished engineers of different ethnicities to collaborate with the youngsters in building community projects,” Ali explained. “Bringing the sense of diversity, equity and inclusiveness in schools at the early grades will make the young individuals from underrepresented communities feel valued and motivated to pursue careers in engineering.”

That diversity is important and can drive exceptional outcomes.

“An engineering and design problem can be approached in multiple ways for achieving an optimal solution. Engineers from diversified cultures bring a wealth of different perspectives, ideas, and approaches, fostering innovation and creativity. It allows for more comprehensive problem-solving and leads to solutions that are more inclusive and effective,” he said.

For someone new to engineering, Ali said that it comes back to finding the right mentor. That can provide invaluable guidance and constructive feedback to accelerate a junior engineer’s learning curve and enhance their confidence in the workplace.

“The mentor can be your immediate supervisor or someone from your cross-functional peer network,” Ali explained. “Also, engaging actively in team meetings, expressing your ideas and contributing to conversations helps you gain confidence in your abilities and establishes your presence within the team. As you gain confidence being new to engineering, you should also adopt a few safeguard skills like staying organized with your work by using productivity tools, review your deliverables from your peers to get a fresh perspective and catch mistakes you have missed. As you commit mistakes, don’t stress yourself thinking about the mistake, rather perform root cause analysis on that mistake and identify remediation actions that can prevent those mistakes from happening in the future. I have learned that sharing my mistakes and the lessons learned with my teammates have enabled me in creating a culture of openness and continuous improvement within the team.”

Feeling supported

Ali said that he has never felt disadvantaged in his organization because of my membership in a minority group and feels fortunate to be part of the company. He noted that Advantage Solutions was named one of “America’s greatest workplaces for diversity” in 2023. And as part of his career growth within the organization, he was nominated and accepted for the Advantage Ambassador program, which is aimed to recognize emerging leaders.

Allies are a part of Ali’s journey, too.

“In my current organization Advantage Solutions, I feel well-supported by allies who actively promote an inclusive and collaborative culture. In Advantage Solutions, there are multiple ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) like Inspire Asian, Disabilities in Action, Hola, Band, Women’s Interactive network and so on. These ERGs offer associates the opportunity to build community, feel valued and grow personally and professionally. Being a member of Inspire Asian ERG, I was accepted for the McKinsey’s executive leadership program to accelerate my professional growth within my organization,” he said.

Looking toward the future, Ali mused about what global challenge would most intrigue him.

“If I had unlimited time, then I would apply my engineering knowledge to tackle the ‘global fake news’ problem,” he said. “With the advent of the internet and AI, media exclusivity has been blurred. Anyone can generate content using AI tools — and can spread the fake news through various social media channels to create social polarization, electoral influence, health misinformation, market manipulation, and so on. I am actively working on extending my blockchain-based provenance system to create a transparent platform where online readers can verify the content’s authenticity and source of information.”

The post Engineering as a transformative career appeared first on Engineering.com.

Tsu-Jae Liu, recipient of the 2024 IEEE Founders Medal, has left an indelible mark on the engineering field with her leadership in advancing and commercializing nanometer semiconductor technologies and her pursuit of microelectronics workforce development. Also known for co-inventing the revolutionary FinFET transistor design, Liu’s contributions extend far within the engineering community. Combined with her continuing academic career at the University of California, Berkeley, we can be sure her colleagues and students deeply feel her dedication and influence.

From medicine to engineering: a career path defined by passion

Liu’s first knowledge of engineering came from her father. His degree in electrical engineering connected him to a community of electrical engineers who, upon emigrating to the U.S., gave the younger Liu the impression that engineers lived comfortable lives and enjoyed their work. It wasn’t until her own college experience, however, that she turned to engineering.

Initially interested in medicine, Liu learned she lacked the stomach for it after touring the anatomy lab at Stanford University’s medical school. However, she knew that engineers designed and built the instruments and technologies that doctors use to diagnose and treat patients. So, making that her inspiration, she earned a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Afterward, she worked in industry before returning to academia. Presently, she is an IEEE Fellow and both Dean and Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering at UC Berkeley’s college of engineering.

Liu’s path to becoming UC Berkeley faculty began with her first job after graduation. Driven by her love of research, she joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, where she was exposed to the emerging industry of flat panel displays. As she’ll tell you, multiple American companies were interested in thought panel display technology, so research and interest in it were growing. They believed that these displays would eventually usurp the use of paper documents. Liu’s place in this research and UC Berkeley’s sustained interest in new and exciting areas of study created the opportunity for her to join the faculty of UC Berkeley’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) in 1986. Perfect timing, as the U.S. government decided after that not to continue investing in the research, instead relying on suppliers of flat panel displays from other countries.

Championing diversity and inclusion in engineering

Today, Liu is not only a professor and dean working to create a welcoming environment for her and potential students at her university but also works with the American Semiconductor Academy (ASA) Initiative. The initiative’s purpose is to increase funding and unity among universities and community colleges so they retain more engineering students who, in their careers, will support the needs of a growing semiconductor infrastructure. The idea is for universities to share best practices and curricula, partnering with the semiconductor industry and the U.S. government to develop career pathways at the speed and scale necessary to meet the industry’s growing workforce needs (a need more than double the current output of graduates).

This is a natural extension of Liu’s work at Berkeley, as both stem from her belief that “As we increase the diversity of students and faculty, we don’t see the full benefit of that unless we change the culture to make it more inclusive and make everybody feel like they belong and are valued and respected as part of the community.” In her capacity as Dean and working with the ASA, her priority is to transform the engineering culture to support diversity and growth better. Even within the ASA, she wants any student from any major to feel like they have a path to the semiconductor industry if that’s what they want to do.

Bottom line: Liu wants every one of her students to feel “…like they are welcome and that they would be supported to thrive in [UC Berkeley’s] engineering programs. That’s the most important thing.” She also believes that this feeling shouldn’t end with her students. It should extend to all engineers, even if they don’t want to be engineers.

She explained, “Society is becoming ever more dependent on devices that engineers design and build. It’s good for doctors, lawyers, politicians, or just general citizens to understand and appreciate technology and engineering.” If nothing else, this line of thinking could greatly benefit the medical field — Liu has witnessed people who majored in engineering but ended up in medicine and have excelled, mainly because of their technical training. But beyond the technical, it is learning analytical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to work with others that benefit engineers in other fields and leadership roles.

If widely accepted, this attitude would inevitably generate intersectional diversity in the engineering student body and, eventually, many major industries.

Empowering future engineers

Liu’s students want to save the world no matter what field they seek to do it in. Their institution’s job is to make them feel like they can, or at least like they have the resources to. Many of her students are interested in bioengineering/biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, and aerospace engineering because they care about health, ensuring a sustainable planet, space exploration, and occupying the Moon and then Mars, to extend their own lives and those of all humans. The younger generation cares about ensuring the future of humankind, but they have to feel what is possible and believe they can do it.

“What motivates students is knowing that what they do is really making a positive difference on people, society, or the planet,” said Liu. This type of motivation and confidence comes from feeling valued, welcomed, and respected — the exact kind of culture Liu seeks to imbue into the engineering community, starting with her own and universities across the country.

In addition to the accolades already mentioned, Liu’s leadership has been recognized by educators and industry with awards such as the Chang-Lin Tien Leadership in Education Award, the SRC Aristotle Award, and the IEEE EDS Education Award for outstanding contributions to education and achievements in diversity and inclusion. So, maybe her opinion is the expert one. With that in mind, here is some last expert advice from her.

“The old way of doing things wasn’t the best way. Just because you’re successful doesn’t mean that continuing to do things the same way will ensure continued success. One thing we as engineering researchers and professionals should realize is that the world is changing.”

The post Transforming technology through inclusive engineering appeared first on Engineering.com.

Hang Loi’s engineering journey began as a child in Vietnam. As a good student who enjoyed learning at an early age, she excelled at math and grew aware of the scholarly aspects of engineering in her teens but didn’t personally know any engineers. Her mother was a tailor, and her father was a photographer-turned-auditor who worked for the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) for 20 years until the fall of Saigon in April 1975.

“I was a very curious child and always wanted to figure out how things work,” said Loi. “I wasn’t a tinkerer. I didn’t take apart radios or anything like that, but I was always asking ‘why’ and digging deeper. I was drawn to challenges and really proud of myself when I solved a problem.”

In 1975, nine-year-old Loi and her family abruptly fled their home country to escape warfare and persecution. Fate brought them to Toledo, Ohio, where her father, who spoke five languages, started a new career as an auditor with a large company in the area. Loi continued studying with the mindset and hope that someday she might be a doctor or an engineer.

“My family believed an education leading to marketable skills was important, and a science-based career fit the bill. They instilled that in me, even though they weren’t engineers themselves. They really valued education and encouraged me,” she said. “I didn’t have to fight any genderism. I wasn’t questioned with, ‘Why do you want to do that? Are you sure you want to go down that path?’ as other girls may have faced.”

Loi attended Case Western Reserve University and double-majored in chemical engineering and music. At the time, there was about one woman for every seven engineering students, but being a double minority wasn’t on her radar.

“The fact that I was a woman didn’t register when I was in college … or for a long time — probably the first half of my career,” she said. “For about 15 years, I did not realize that I was a minority amongst minorities, that I was a woman, an immigrant, an English language learner, an Asian American. Those were just things about me, but I didn’t know they mattered and in which ways.”

Loi didn’t have a dedicated women’s group and didn’t discover the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) until later in her career. She recalled visiting a minority engineering group on campus during the first week of college orientation and, through the conversation, learned that minority engineering didn’t apply to her because she was Asian.

“I was a minority but not a minority, and I didn’t quite understand that. So, they were not a resource, and I didn’t search further from then on,” said Loi. “I didn’t become aware of resource communities until later in my career. It’s a detriment to those who don’t discover them, and it’s a barrier to young people, maybe like me, who didn’t realize that we didn’t have to go it alone.”

A campus recruiter invited Loi to interview for three positions at 3M in Minnesota. She chose a rotational program and worked at different manufacturing sites every six months for two years. With no prior knowledge about manufacturing, she enjoyed the challenge and opportunity to travel around the country.

“I didn’t realize that 3M had manufacturing sites in very small communities. My first assignment was in a rural town of 5,000. I grew up in Vietnam in a city of four million. I’d never really seen a small world or been in a rural town,” said Loi. “You learn a lot along the way from opening yourself to experiences that are outside of your comfort zone. You learn things you hadn’t expected about different parts of America. You learn about your capacity to grow, persevere, and be resilient.”

At 3M, Loi worked in product engineering and led commercialization programs from concept through production-scale manufacturing. Her early experiences taught her that she enjoyed delivering solutions to customers, and she opted for R&D opportunities that enabled a faster pace and more direct interactions with end users, supplier partners, and large internal manufacturing teams. She initially chose a division involved in retroreflective materials used in security IDs, U.S. passports, and clothing.

“The way I explain my job to kids or young adults is that I take a couple of square inches of a product idea and make them into miles. All the science involved with taking that embryonic concept into something that you can make all day long, and with the same consistent acceptable quality, is a huge engineering challenge,” said Loi. “When people say ‘scalable manufacturing,’ it’s taking early-stage technologies and developing them into continuous high-speed processes that manufacture products at high volume. But the challenge doesn’t end there.”

Testing, delivery, warehousing, pricing, intellectual property protection, and sales — Loi and her teams had to address numerous challenges throughout the commercialization effort, requiring technical expertise and critical thinking.

“The first technology platform I worked with after my rotation was retroreflective films. You see the yellow reflective trims today on safety apparel used in industrial and occupational settings. You see the silver on firefighters’ jackets and athletic wear; I worked on those. The fluorescent lime yellow trims on construction workers’ vests were new to the world of safety products that I brought to life 20-some years ago, and it’s still in use today around the world,” she said.

During the latter half of her career, Loi worked on optically engineered films for electronic devices that use liquid crystal displays (LCDs). “These phenomenal films recycle light within the displays so that the batteries in your mobile devices can decrease in size and last longer. The alternating refractive indices of the hundreds of layers of stacked nano-thick films result in more brightly illuminated screens while conserving battery power and reducing energy usage. That invention was among the critical breakthroughs at 3M that enabled the explosive growth around LCDs and continues today in many applications that require displays, like automobiles and airplanes. Bringing all that to life is very neat, and I am proud I led many of those programs.”

At 3M, Loi also led the employee resource group (ERG) to help attract, develop, and retain Asian-American talent. However, her goal wasn’t limited to building cultural awareness and raising sensitivities around important celebrations such as Lunar New Year and Diwali. She aimed to help build a supportive community of cohorts that connect and elevate each other and other underrepresented voices. She also encouraged her company and Asian-heritage employees to align their priorities so everyone succeeded. She emphasized how relatively easy it is for employees to move up the ladder early in their careers, but many underrepresented groups, such as women and minorities, face “broken rungs” that stall further opportunities.

“You can do anything in your first three to five years. However, upon reflection, research, and many conversations, I learned that getting opportunities to continue to grow and broaden expertise can be challenging for women and minorities. That is when race, gender, parenthood, and other biases come into play. That is when getting help and support from allies from the dominant group matters,” she said.

Additionally, she strongly voices her concern about losing women in the workforce, especially when they have children. She challenges companies to have women’s backs, continually support them with growth opportunities, and help them re-enter the workforce prepared should they choose to step away. “You must make sure that women talent at all stages of careers stays in and is engaged. Our advancement and continued presence pay back dividends by encouraging other women to do the same.”

During her career, Loi advanced from product engineer to commercialization leader to global supplier relationships manager. She earned numerous patents for 3M, completed a global diplomacy fellowship for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and now serves on the board of directors of the Case Alumni Foundation at her alma mater.

“I always felt that if you’re good at something, it’s your responsibility to use your capability,” she said. “If I weren’t pursuing these challenging paths that other people might shy away from, then who’s going to do it? Who am I waiting for?”

As Loi enters her next chapter, she remains a strong advocate for equitable opportunities for a diverse workforce. “Problem-solving is all about identifying the correct problems in the first place. The wider the viewpoints in the room, the more the team can see. It’s not a competition. I feel privileged to have gained unique perspectives from my experiences as a woman, a bilingual immigrant, an engineer, an Asian American, a daughter of courageous parents, and a parent myself of two daughters. We’re all part of humanity, and we’ve got to find a way to have our organizations look like our society so that the solutions are encompassing and inclusive.”

The post Where fate, talent and responsibility meet appeared first on Engineering.com.

This move was led by Maurice Stallard, director of engineering and manufacturing at HJI. Stallard wanted to simplify training and reduce errors, so he relied on his prior experiences to uncover how HJI could improve its processes.

“Throughout my career, I’ve gained a wealth of experience analyzing processes for their weaknesses and identifying opportunities for defects or breakdowns. I most recently had to launch a manufacturing process for our newest site that would consistently deliver results with minimal to no defects. So I began looking into MES softwares and ultimately narrowed it down to Pico MES,” Stallard said. “The system offers a host of options that create not only the ability to minimize defects during the production process but also improve training quality, reduce training time, and add traceability into the production process. Installing Pico has proven to be a complete win for us thus far. We were not only awarded the contract but are running with zero defects and have been awarded additional contracts as a result.”

Stallard’s career has spanned more than two decades. It includes stops at such big names as GE and Keurig, where he’s worked as a production supervisor, operations manager and general manager, among other roles. He joined HJI more than three years ago, thanks in part to a personal connection with the company’s current president, Condrad Daniels.

“My path here was not typical. My oldest son played little league football and basketball with our current president, and he and I would always discuss what was going on with HJI on the sidelines — what they were doing, what they were interested in, and even some of the challenges they faced. I knew it was a really good company with great owners and exceptional leadership. We always discussed the potential of me joining the team if and when the ‘right’ opportunity emerged. Over the next eight to 10 years, the company continued to grow and develop, and finally there was a position that would be a good fit,” Stallard said. “The president reached out to me when they were opening a new facility focused primarily on manufacturing, and asked if I would be interested in leading that site. I accepted the role and led the site through its initial launch before transitioning into my current role.”

Stallard enjoys his current role at HJI because it offers a variety of new challenges, especially as he takes on more new installation-type projects and launches new equipment software, like the PICO MES project.

A problem-solver at heart

Stallard said his love for problem-solving drew him to engineering. “I have always loved taking things apart to learn how they work and then trying to put them back together – which didn’t always work, of course,” he said. “Early on in my education, I realized I had a strong aptitude for math and science, which was greatly supported by both my parents and teachers. I enrolled in a STEM-focused middle school, which exposed me early on to the skills (and challenges) of engineering. The program continued into high school, and by the end, I knew engineering was the career for me. I initially thought I would go into mechanical engineering, but realized my passion and the career opportunities for electrical engineering.”

Although he had several engineering job offers after graduating college, Stallard declined them because he realized during an internship that operations were where he wanted to be. He returned home to Louisville and took a position as an intern for a company he had previously worked for in college and pursued his MBA. He met his wife during this time, so he was ready to start making roots. “I was offered a position in this company’s leadership training program, but it required me to relocate every six months for the next two years. I didn’t want to be away from my wife that long, so I ultimately decided to pursue other employment options nationally,” he said. “I ended up accepting a production position in Las Vegas, where I stayed for three years and was promoted twice. My wife and I eventually returned back to Kentucky with a newborn baby.”

Working with challenges

Stallard said that engineering has always come naturally to him, but the more difficult challenge has constantly been gathering a host of intelligent individuals — who are all used to being right — to learn, listen, and work well together. “Often in engineering, being smart is just the minimum requirement to gain access to the room,” he explained. “From there, the softer skills are important to develop to help identify, cultivate, and eventually determine the right solution or path forward. That is where I am continuing to focus my efforts and what I hope to bring to the table.”

Stallard also said that diversity and inclusion, or the lack thereof, can create additional challenges for an African American man. “I have worked for multiple companies where I was the minority, if not the only, African American in the room, problem-solving and helping make decisions. I’ve seen first-hand the setbacks that come from a lack of diversity and inclusion and how unique perspectives can easily be missed or overlooked.”

“In more recent years, companies are beginning to take a more intentional approach to diversity and gradually balancing the scales. They are starting to recognize there can be a lot of talent within groups of people that do not necessarily look like you or share your beliefs, or that old stereotypes don’t hold any merit,” he said. “Now there are more opportunities for minority groups to help others gain access to these same rooms. There is now more potential to be judged solely on your performance and what you bring to the table. I am excited to see how this change in mindset, if continued, really changes the landscape of engineering and the professional environment as a whole.”

Although diversity has improved, Stallard does believe there is still much work to be done to balance the scales. “I think the change in mindset I mentioned previously is still pretty delicate and could just as easily slide backward as it could forward. While the changes that are happening right now are great, I am concerned that there is a lack of regulation to support it,” he said. “The same people that are making these changes at the corporate level can just as easily begin de-emphasizing these initiatives. Until we find a way to make diversity and inclusion efforts remain a mainstay, there is always that risk. 

“Some organizations have not even fully bought into the idea of DEI, if at all. There is very little motivation to fix a problem you do not feel exists, and without opening their eyes to these issues, getting them to change can prove difficult. The more we can collect and present data that shows the myriad of advantages that DEI presents — cultural, financial, and otherwise — the better chance we have of shifting their views.”

Seeing DEI benefits first-hand

Stallard said that companies must first universally believe in the benefits of DEI. Once there, the number of changes and improvements that can be made is endless. They can be significant general changes or industry- and company-specific.

“I do not claim to be an expert in this matter, but I do know that any movement in this direction is better than none,” he said. “From an engineering standpoint, I believe it boils down to looking for different perspectives and ideas, regardless of where they come from. If you are always open to the possibility that there are other thoughts and that your one idea is not always the best, you will find yourself seeking out new people, places and ideas that have not been historically explored.”

Working for a black-owned company with predominantly minority leadership has given him a unique place to grow his career and be part of a team focused on opportunity for all.

“HJI is a place where I can flex and grow, and it offers the same opportunity for others company-wide. Because of our unique culture and leadership, I am allowed to openly and honestly express my thoughts and opinions without fear of repercussions. The leadership team has created a safe space for people to flourish, which ultimately benefits our bottom line,” Stallard said. “We are allowed to fail (within reason) in pursuit of finding a better solution to the challenges at hand. HJI’s focus on DEI has also allowed us to assemble one of the best teams I have ever worked with. The team is capable of overcoming any challenge, and anyone who works here will develop a mindset and skills that they can take wherever they go next, cultivating a similar inclusive work environment.”

As for the future, Stallard is looking forward to continuing to diversify his own engineering team in both skills and thought, especially as they prepare for upcoming launches in several industries and areas of logistics, including automotive, kitting, value-add logistics and even reverse logistics.

Reflecting on his career, Stallard offered two pieces of solid advice that, it so happens, are particularly resonant in the context of DEI. “If you approach all conversations preparing to have your mind changed, you will often hear some really good ideas,” he said. “And if you approach teamwork with the mindset of ‘how can I make my team members wildly successful,’ your team will almost always exceed expectations.”

The post Empower change in production – and people appeared first on Engineering.com.