🎓 From College to Career in Environmental Engineering | Lyndsey's Journey to Success 🌍
Are you an engineering student wondering how to turn your college experience into a successful career in environmental engineering? In this video, we walk you through Lyndsey's personal journey from college to career, sharing real-world tips, experiences, and insights that helped her land a fulfilling role in the environmental field.
💼 Learn how engineering co-ops, internships, and community involvement played a role in shaping her professional path. We’ll cover what she learned during my environmental engineering degree, the value of hands-on work experience, and how she built a network that opened doors after graduation. Whether you're studying environmental engineering, looking for career advice, or exploring ways to get ahead through student co-op programs and volunteer projects, this video has something for you.
👉 Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more videos on engineering careers, college success, and sustainable development.
#EnvironmentalEngineering #EngineeringCoop #CollegeToCareer #STEMSuccess #EngineeringJourney #womeninengineering #womeninstem
Meet our guest, Lyndsey DeRamus!
Lyndsey is an Environmental Engineering graduate from The University of Alabama with four years of industry experience, specializing in sustainability sustainable solutions and Environmental Management. She began studying mechanical engineering and pivoted to Environmental thanks to a wonderful mentor. After the switch, she started my career as a co-op in the automotive industry and also held positions in programming and DEI offices until she graduated and stepped fully into the Environmental industry. While at the University, she began to bridge the gap between environmental and human health and she started "Green Tea Wednesday," a weekly segment educating the public on sustainability’s impact on well-being.
Now she's currently an Environmental Engineering Consultant and Client Account Partner.
Are you an engineering student wondering how to turn your college experience into a successful career in environmental engineering? In this video, we walk you through Lyndsey's personal journey from college to career, sharing real-world tips, experiences, and insights that helped her land a fulfilling role in the environmental field.
💼 Learn how engineering co-ops, internships, and community involvement played a role in shaping her professional path. We’ll cover what she learned during my environmental engineering degree, the value of hands-on work experience, and how she built a network that opened doors after graduation. Whether you're studying environmental engineering, looking for career advice, or exploring ways to get ahead through student co-op programs and volunteer projects, this video has something for you.
👉 Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more videos on engineering careers, college success, and sustainable development.
#EnvironmentalEngineering #EngineeringCoop #CollegeToCareer #STEMSuccess #EngineeringJourney #womeninengineering #womeninstem
Meet our guest, Lyndsey DeRamus!
Lyndsey is an Environmental Engineering graduate from The University of Alabama with four years of industry experience, specializing in sustainability sustainable solutions and Environmental Management. She began studying mechanical engineering and pivoted to Environmental thanks to a wonderful mentor. After the switch, she started my career as a co-op in the automotive industry and also held positions in programming and DEI offices until she graduated and stepped fully into the Environmental industry. While at the University, she began to bridge the gap between environmental and human health and she started "Green Tea Wednesday," a weekly segment educating the public on sustainability’s impact on well-being.
Now she's currently an Environmental Engineering Consultant and Client Account Partner.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello everyone, and welcome to All Things Then with Ashley.
I'm your host Ashley, and I'm super excited for our guest,
Lindsay to Raymis, joining us today is an incredible leader
in environmental engineering.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Lindsay to Raymis. With four years of.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Industry experience, she's making waves and sustainability consulting and client partnerships.
From her early days as a co op at Mercedes
Benz to her impactful work in D and I programming
and university initiatives, she's been committed to driving change. Now
as an environmental engineering consultant and client account partner, she's
dedicated to bridging the gap between environmental and human health.
(00:46):
You may also recognize her from Green Tea Wednesday, where
she educates the public on sustainability's role in well being.
Please welcome Lindsay to Raymis.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hello, welcome. Oh my gosh, it's just so excited. I'm
so excited to have it here today.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
And just to talk about your journey, how you got
involved in STEM and to begin with, and how you
selected environmental engineering.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It definitely was a journey. Yeah, getting to environmental was
definitely a journey.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So can you share with us why you initially got
interested in the STEM field and then go I had
to tell us why you pick the environmental Sure.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I feel like I had a really classic introduction to
the STEM industry.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
When I was.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Registering for the University of Alabama and literally, you know
when you go in and you pick your classes.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I was like, I don't know what I want to do.
Maybe business, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
And my father is an industrial engineer and came over
me and said, no, you're good at math and science,
so you're gonna go ahead and you're gonna go into engineering. Yeah,
And so I actually started off in mechanical Wow. I
started off as a mechanical engineering student at the University
of Alabama. Role time, roll time baby, and one of
(01:59):
my wonderful professors pulled me out of his class and
was like, you know what, I think, you're an engineer,
but you're not a mechanical engineer.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
You're something else. And that's how I was in Houston.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Environmental changed my major been going forward ever since.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It's excellent.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Now, were you involved in any stud things during high
school or before or when it was, like you said,
when your dad kind of showed you, hey, this is
good for you you're good in math and science.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Honestly, I actually was involved in something that I feel
like wasn't as stamp as I knew it was.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I actually was an.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
FFA, if people can remember that stands for Future Farmers
of America, which I think now has a different title.
I was so interested in the environment, but I didn't
understand why I was interested, or.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
In what feel I was interested in.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
And so I used to actually think I wanted to
be a vet, but what I really actually liked was
the agriculture and the environment and how we breathe and
how animals survived and that kind of thing. And so
that was like a light introduction and then it just
kind of took shape from there.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
That's excellent. Thank you for sharing.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So could you give us an overview of what environmental engineering.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Is for the audience. I can so.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Environmental engineering is the engineering that focuses on improving the
environment and also managing the systems that we already have
place in the environment. It includes management systems for improving
air quality, improving soil quality, improving water quality, and again
maintaining those treatment systems.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
A lot of people don't know this.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Environmental engineering is also focused around hazardous waste management and
waste management there are two delineations between that, but also
remedial design and then designing treatment systems as well.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So it is a whole umbrella. There's so much opportunity
with an environmental I love it. Yeah, I hope that
was clear enough. That was amazing. Thank you. I love that.
You are the first environmental.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Engineer we've had on the show, so you're putting us
on knowledge.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So I want to get into more about environmental engineering.
Is there what is the most pressing environmental challenges that
you currently see in today's world.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Pressing environmental challenges, I would definitely say there is a
newly emerging contaminant, or it's considered newly emerging. We've known
it's been around for quite some time, called p FOSS.
It's one of the biggest pressing issues in the environmental
industry because it's pretty much in everything, and p FOSS
is an umbrella for multiple contaminants p FOSS, p FO,
(04:26):
p FOA, So at first it was this big fearful
word until we realized it could be managed. The EVA
just released I think the MCL's just last year about
the limits. The only problem with this contaminant is it
persisted the environment in parts per trillion. So if something
is detectable at parts per trillion, that means it's a
little bit harder to manage, but everything.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Is efficiently being managed.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Good.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Now, what is it MCL? So an MCL means a
maximum contamination limit.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Hope, I got that right, Okay, it just means that,
remember how I said that word management. It just means
that if I find this, it's okay as long as
it stays at this level.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
So, so many people think that like, oh my gosh,
the environment is contaminated because I found X amount. As
long as your X amount is within a controllable limit,
your fine, Which is why we've had so many studies.
And this newly emerging contaminant has been newly emerging for
like a decade.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
It's been around for decades and decades and decades. Yeah, yeah,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So I want to ask, can you explain some of
the innovative technology so approaches in environmental engineering that you're
most excited about today?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Honestly innovative reproaches.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I actually just went to a I just went to
a company's first depiction of future smart city growth development
which is where they're trying to design entire cities and
redesign infrastructure to be the most sustainable.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
So there's like, oh all time electric h trains all time,
like solar panels that they're really taking pieces of infrastructure
from like Japanese infrastructure with how they manage.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Their environment because they have to manage their.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Environment in a completely different way than like somebody who's
like landlocked.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Was so I thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Smart city growth development was like a new innovative thing.
I don't even know fully about it, but it's one
of those things that motivates you to keep going. And yeah,
I thought that was cool, very cool. I had never
heard of it till you just said it. Yeah, that's excellent.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
So I want to ask, how do environmental engineers work
with other professionals such as policymakers urban planners to implement
sustainable solution that oh my.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Question, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Honestly, it is part of what I love being environmental,
is about how you're across the category because a big
word in environmental is compliance, right, So I'm constantly working
with a legal team or teams of other engineers who
because the data comes to me the consultant. But let's
say we have an exceedence, how is that handled legally?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
You know, how do we proceed from there?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So there's a lot of compliance and management when it
comes to that. But on the policy making side, something
has to happen where if there is like a persisting
environmental contamination or where a community has.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Been fully impacted.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And so I forget the statistic, but I think some
environmental cases end up having to be tried as civil cases.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Because hey, this is impacting this.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Environment, of this community, of this particular demographic. So there's
been multiple environmental cases, multiple environmental studies where lawmakers have
to sit down and say, hey, you know what, We've
got to reengineer this entire community.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Like there was Perrie County, Alabama. That's one of the
biggest cases.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Where people started doping ways from a certain other state.
And so I mean it had to be taken all
the way up Sivilly and tried by the EPA.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So it can get it can get really really amplified.
I wish I had a better word serving. No, this
was perfect. This is to educate people and things we
don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And you've already said so many great gyms that were
like not even ten minutes in.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So thank you for that, girl. I want to ask
what role does.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Renewable energy and energy efficiency play in the future of
environmental engineering.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
I mean, it is the future of environmental engineering. I
think what's so surprising about environmental is when you enter
into the industry, you have an understanding that people have
already maintained these proficient systems. So I remember my wastewater
engineering teacher told me one time, if it functions at
ninety nine point one percent, don't push yourself to get
to that point nine because we're already hitting the limits.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And so there's already so.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Many sustainable solutions in place that we as engineers are
working just towards to improve upon, so solar when that
type of thing, and these systems look a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Different than you than you would think.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But yeah, I would say that renewable energy is always
it's always at the it's always at the center. I mean,
sustainability is the biggest buzzword in the industry because there's
always the room for continuous improvement upon the systems.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That we have in place.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
And yeah, you know, like like I talked about earlier
with like smart city growth development. We have so many
things in the works while we're maintaining the systems that
already do work.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yeah, that's awesome, thank you, Yeah you, energy efficiency, everybody
things to flow.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Lindsay, can you discuss some of the emerging trends in
waste management.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I would say, like, if you look at your company's initiatives,
some of y'all are probably going to see like zero
net carbon emissions, especially like an aerospace place or where
you have like a production facility with large admissions.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Or just zero net waste, right.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And so a lot of these companies are trying to
reduce the amount of waste that we send to landfills
or that we emit into the air. Because some people
think waste means like literal physical waste, like something that
I take over there and throw.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
In your trash can.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Lots of times waste is literally the by product of
what you're producing.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Okay, So like correct me a fum wrong.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
But any system that requires energy will output a certain
amount of waste, right, and so companies are on a
huge push right now within the waste.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Management space to reduce the emissions.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
There's always a focus on how can I reduce this
as a big popular one is zero net carbon emissions.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
So in the aerospace industry that's being pushed.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, or in these production facilities, like back when I
was an intern at Mercedes, I think my environmental lead
was was trying to combine with some of the ISO
fourteen thousand and one policies to push towards zero net
carbon emissions for the production facility too.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Oh wow, So those are.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
The emerging trends at least that I've got off the
top of my mind.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, I'm not perfect, Thank you. That's perfect, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
This is we're just teaching the audience what we don't know.
So this is all helping us learn a little bit
about how we can do better and they can.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Look up the idea.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, always do your research, guys, because I mean, hey,
I am an environmental engineer, but I'm not an expert
in each single element of every part.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Of the industry. That's okay.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
We appreciate the gyms you have given us, so thank you. Next,
I want to ask about what are some of the
most common misconceptions about environmental engineering.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I love this question. I'll get the misconceptions that I get.
So when you hear environmental you're the things that you
think are like green, yeah, or plants or like you know, trees, water. Yeah,
I mean it's true, but a lot of people will
be like, oh, so you're a super green bell.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Oh so you have your own guarde. Oh so you
have solar panels on your house.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
No. A big misconception is that environmental engineers or like
the barefoot walk in no slur intended, like tree huggers,
which are very necessary, by the way, love that go
hug a straight.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yes, but yeah, that would be a big misconception.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Like, environmental engineering is not me like walking outside and
cutting clippings of grass and putting you back. It's me
going out with like a sonic drill rig and drilling
like sixty feet into the ground to extract to understand
what's actually.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
In in this like in this material. Yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
See yeah, lindsay what role do environmental engineers play in
disaster response and recovery.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Such as all spills, fires, or floods.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I actually worked in emergency response, asked an environmental engineer
at a couple of incidents early on in my career.
And what I can tell you that environmental engineers do
is various. So you can have multiple roles, you can.
What I did was I became kind of like a
boots on the ground field tech because at the end
of the day, your goal as an environmental engineer is
(13:07):
to let this community and let the client know what
is occurring and what has occurred in this environment, if
it will spread, how it will persist in the environment,
and then the next step of how it will be
managed and how it will be reduced. So my emergency
response situation was actually.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
A trained derailment.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I won't get into the specifics I had to sign
an NDA, but I literally did something called creek washing
where you go into the creek bed. There was a
contaminant that had spilled out from a train ridged into
the creek.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
And this is a water source.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So whenever you have a water source, the contaminant's going
to give in the water and then be able to
persist through the ground.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
There's groundwater systems.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
And so what you do is you have to flush
this product out of the creek and then again we
bring back into that word management, we then track, hey,
has this contaminant level gone down?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
What's my MCA.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Well, you have a limited amount of time to reduce
that exceedance, So what systems are we going to put
in place to also assist us in reducing this contamination. Also,
I did a residential soil sampling because lots of times
when I'm doing an emergency response situation, the reason why
it's such an emergency response is because it's community centered.
(14:23):
So this is real people, real houses, real properties being impacted.
So I will literally go on people's property and take
a soil sample from their property to understand is this
contaminant here?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
How?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
How, what's the what's the volume of this? So that
that's Yeah, it's it's hard, but to summarize that long
winded response, you're just giving an under You're you're really
stepping into.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Your consultant shoes.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I'm really just letting everyone understand from not only a
data point of view, but when you obtain data, you know,
as an engineer, you have to make it clear.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
To what it means. Yes, right, got to everyone.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I gotta. I have to make the person in the
community understand what's going on, and I also have to
let the client understand what's going on so then we
can take the next steps forward.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I love it. Thanks, Yes, very good.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
A lot of that It's good to see, you know,
because we always see first responders, like even with California recentarch.
But it's good to know, you know, you all get
to do resources, see different things and help as well.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
With the first responders. So thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Can you share a success story from one of your
projects where environmental engineering made a significant difference? I mean,
you just said some amazing a second ago, But do
you have any seeing the stands out or one of
your favorites that you can share with us.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Honestly, you know what, I probably will just speak from
a Lindsay point of view.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, back to that same derailment is that was my
success story became when I really understood the mindset of
what I do is to help improve the communities that
the environmental impact is happening within. Yes, so I had
gone to a residence residence and taken a sample, and
she came out to me, and she was obviously very emotional,
(16:09):
because people do not if you're not an environmental engineer,
you don't really understand what's going on, and all you
see is like high viz vest and boots and equipment coming.
It can be very mind boggling. Even if I find
nothing in your soil. Just that presence and approach to
itself is.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Like what is going on? So I feel like in
that moment, I really stepped.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Into the shoes of being able to communicate and helping
kind of reduce the panic that was there because where
she was nothing, no contamination. We have to be very
limiting in what we can say in das and what
we communicate. But I think my success story comes from
me being able to have an interpersonal interaction with a
(16:57):
community that was actually impacted that I helped reducing impact,
and so it's very personal.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I wish I.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Could say her name and everything we talked about what happened,
But that was like a key.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Moment for me. I'll always remember and I love it.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Hey, thank you, So lindsay, how do you stay updated
on the latest research, technologies and trends within your field?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
M I definitely like being in your industry. As soon
as somebody they'll send me an email and be like.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Hey, we need somebody because this is going on right now.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
It's so itally to be very immediate where I have
to brush up on that information.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
But I also feel like you never.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Stopp being a student, so you know, I love going
to conferences. I'm actually going to NESBY conference in Chicago
where I get to surround myself with the things that
are going on in the industry and do some recruitment. Yeah.
So I'd definitely say for me, it's a little bit more,
you know, on the nose. Hey, I got this email,
and this is happening in the industry, or this is
(17:52):
newly emerging, brush up on this, or like literally immersing
myself into the community and conference and engaging in that way.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Good. Also an occasional LinkedIn post. Hey you read a
little random article. I love that. Can you tell us
what NESBEE stands for for those that may not know.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
The National Society of Black Engineers, Well, thank you movies
of course.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
My next question for you is what advice would you
give to companies or individuals looking to reduce their environmental
footprint through engineering solutions?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Ooh, for companies looking to reduce your looking to reduce
your environmental impact, I would say, one, understand what your
product is, Understand what you're producing, understand what you're releasing,
and get an environmental engineering company involved. I mean there's
top environmental consulting firms. Yeah, get someone, get some experts involved. Yeah,
(18:46):
because it it might be more complex than you think,
but it can also be just as equally simple as
you think.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Good. Thank you, Lindsey.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Have you been involved in any initiatives or programs to
encourage young women or underrepresented to pursue STEM fields.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yes, yes, I have.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
That actually just brought back such a nice memory for me,
c but also kind of a frictional memory.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
When I was at my co op there.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Was one other black engineering female. Yeah, and she was
actually a processing engineer, materials and processing engineer.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Really cool, yes, me, I mean she was an.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Amazing person, and we just realized, you know what, there
is not one a lot of diversity here, and there's
not a lot of understanding why that would be important
and how that could contribute to the space. To the
knowledge that we started a DEI initiative there to one
bring in more people and then two to educate the
people already there.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
On diversity, equity and inclusion.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
And that was already STEM centered because we're literally at
this automotive production facility, so kind of like you know,
mulchicoe to that.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
But yeah, I was an amazing journey, learned a lot.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, that's awesome, and how you made that impact for
other people that look like you for them to have
different things to experience when they get there.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yeah, I think that when somebody it was just interesting
because what happened is that you sometimes forget the value
that you.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Bring just based on how you show up.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yes, So I had so many like microaggressive interactions to
where you know.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
People would be like, oh, what are you doing here?
Literally an engineer, Yeah, and they'd be like what are
you doing here? You lost or you know, just just
interactions like.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
That, or where they're begging you to participate in the
photo shoot and you're like, I'm just that pretty No,
they want they need to diversify the photo. So in
creating that initiative, I just I am so proud that
we were able to foster more engagement with that program,
right and bring in more people.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah, and then you go to break down some barriers
and educate people. Education is a frictional process. Yeah. So yeah,
that's beautiful, that's wonderful. I'm glad you can make that impact.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I wanted to get back a little bit to the
field of environmental engineering. I want to ask how you
see it evolving over the next five to ten years.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Ooh, that's a big question. You know what I would say,
in my.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
How many years if I've been in this industry now
four or five, The way that I've already started to
see it change is the way that I continue.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
To see it change. So a decade to us is.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
So much shorter than we think it is, right, So
I think some of these evolutions will happen over the
course of the next decade instead of how people want
it to happen in like two years, especially.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
In relation to climate crisis.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
So I just see us continuously improving it, like water
treatment systems, like taking a page out of you know,
countries like the Netherlands who have mastered water treatment systems,
water management systems right or Japan with literally how they
build sustainability into their infrastructure, like having buildings that are
(22:19):
reflective of the sunlight off of the building, and right
they have these super cool like smart sitty growth like
trees and vertical farming and things like that. So I
also foresee maybe just changes in the agricultural industry with
more engineered soil options and treatment options like that.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So broad broad jest of it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, cool, No, We're going to kind of get into
a little bit about your journey again and tips for success.
You had things you may have wanted to change, Yes,
things like that. So looking back, is there anything you
would have done differently in your stam journey?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Oh? Absolutely, for sure. My immediate thought is back to
student life.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I would have put so much more effort towards understanding
what is I actually wanted to do with my degree.
In college, your mindset is get the degree, get the degree,
get the degree, but you don't think.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
About like, at least I didn't think about it like
I was just trying to finish.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
I didn't think about the why I wanted to get
it or what I wanted to do with it. So yeah,
even if it's just a little bit of effort to
start to just do a little research into like the
actual part of environmental engineering that you want to partake in.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I agree. I was the same way trying to get
exact let me get this degree.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
They tell you, they're like, oh, you're an engineer, you'll
get a job, what kind of job and what will
you enjoy?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yes, oh my gosh, yeah, that's important. Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Another question I want to ask is what advice would
you give to young engineers or students who are interested
in pursuing a career in environmental engineering.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Okay, if you're interested in the environmental engineering, meet an engineer,
Meet an environmental engineer, because your definition of environmental engineering
versus what that role actually requires might be different. I
remember breaking into the industry in it being not expected,
not how I expect.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
It at all.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
So you might be an environmental engineer, but you might
not want to be a wastewater engineer. Okay, you might
want to actually focus on design, or or maybe you
want to just focus on the consulting or so. Because
there's so many different things you can do with an
environmental engineering I would definitely say actually speak to one,
speak to multiple, and just kind of gauge their jobs
(24:37):
and their roles so you again can like go back
to what you like to do or figure it out.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Thank you, lindsay yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
And then our final question for today is what are
three tips for success in navigating your STEM journey and
STEM career?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Three tips for success and navigating your STEM journey or
your STEM career. Yes, first one that to mind is mentorship.
Find a good mentor that can help you, that can
give you some insight into your actual journey of career development. Yeah,
(25:14):
that's my first tip is find a good mentor. My
next tip understand your study habits. I think if I
had understood that the way I studied in high school
should have been way different than how I studied in college,
would have been so helpful.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, Oh I agree, That's what I'm saying.
You remember being able to a an AP class without writing? Yeah,
and engineering and just stem what is it? Science?
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Technology, engineering and mathematics is so much more than retention.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You have to be able to apply and deliver. So yeah,
that's that's.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
My second tip is understanding your study habits and also
diversifying them because how you study for heat transfer definitely
different than how I studied for differential equations.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Third tip, this is probably my favorite tip. As engineers.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
I remember in college we had to take a Columns one,
two three class as one of our electives. Oh I
would I always like to say, remember your presentation.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Remember how you show up.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
So many of us, I know, at least for me
being an engineer, we show up introverted. And that's okay
because I mean sometimes you're behind the desk. You're the
one who's delivering on the data. But I would definitely
say make sure you elevate your presentation.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And how you show up in a real Yeah. Always
just always keep that with you. I love it. Yeah,
thank you, Lindsey, you're And how do we meet?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I remember I was there a few years and when
Lindsay was coming in, we met and we clicked immediately.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
We did. We just did.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
We both had super like fun energy. Yeah, we were
both in the school of engineer. And then it's just
transcended to here.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Almost like was that a hardaway hardways whenever.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Engineering buildings at the University of Alabama several times. But
networking and sustaining friendships and relationships you never know, Like
I move to Dallas and she was already here and
she welcomed me, and now we're here together both getting
to talk about engineering and give tips that we wish
we had known and others. So definitely network, Definitely make
genuine connections. That was the networking.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Start your network now, because what people can do for
you isn't always professional like you might once you land
your career, they might send you to Seattle.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So hopefully maybe you have kept a connection. I kept
a connection who knew we would both move to Dallas
and that kind of thing. So yeah, we wouldn't mount.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
We've outr but we know today we are thriving things
to the University of alabis Thanks to the.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
University of Alabasa degree Goal Tide.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Thank you to the engineering program at the University of Alabama.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yes, thank you to Nesby. Yes, hey, I mean big
shout out to Nesby. We hope to see everybody at
the conference in Chicago this year.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yes, so yeah, good Well, Lindsay, thank you so much
for being a guest today. We appreciate your gyms of knowledge,
your SIM journey and tips for success and navigating the
STEM industry. Thank you all for watching all. Thanks then
with Ashley. Please like and subscribe and tune in next
week for more things.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Tune in, y'all. Thank you,
Hello everyone, and welcome to All Things Then with Ashley.
I'm your host Ashley, and I'm super excited for our guest,
Lindsay to Raymis, joining us today is an incredible leader
in environmental engineering.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Lindsay to Raymis. With four years of.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Industry experience, she's making waves and sustainability consulting and client partnerships.
From her early days as a co op at Mercedes
Benz to her impactful work in D and I programming
and university initiatives, she's been committed to driving change. Now
as an environmental engineering consultant and client account partner, she's
dedicated to bridging the gap between environmental and human health.
(00:46):
You may also recognize her from Green Tea Wednesday, where
she educates the public on sustainability's role in well being.
Please welcome Lindsay to Raymis.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hello, welcome. Oh my gosh, it's just so excited. I'm
so excited to have it here today.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
And just to talk about your journey, how you got
involved in STEM and to begin with, and how you
selected environmental engineering.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It definitely was a journey. Yeah, getting to environmental was
definitely a journey.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So can you share with us why you initially got
interested in the STEM field and then go I had
to tell us why you pick the environmental Sure.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I feel like I had a really classic introduction to
the STEM industry.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
When I was.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Registering for the University of Alabama and literally, you know
when you go in and you pick your classes.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I was like, I don't know what I want to do.
Maybe business, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
And my father is an industrial engineer and came over
me and said, no, you're good at math and science,
so you're gonna go ahead and you're gonna go into engineering. Yeah,
And so I actually started off in mechanical Wow. I
started off as a mechanical engineering student at the University
of Alabama. Role time, roll time baby, and one of
(01:59):
my wonderful professors pulled me out of his class and
was like, you know what, I think, you're an engineer,
but you're not a mechanical engineer.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
You're something else. And that's how I was in Houston.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Environmental changed my major been going forward ever since.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It's excellent.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Now, were you involved in any stud things during high
school or before or when it was, like you said,
when your dad kind of showed you, hey, this is
good for you you're good in math and science.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Honestly, I actually was involved in something that I feel
like wasn't as stamp as I knew it was.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I actually was an.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
FFA, if people can remember that stands for Future Farmers
of America, which I think now has a different title.
I was so interested in the environment, but I didn't
understand why I was interested, or.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
In what feel I was interested in.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
And so I used to actually think I wanted to
be a vet, but what I really actually liked was
the agriculture and the environment and how we breathe and
how animals survived and that kind of thing. And so
that was like a light introduction and then it just
kind of took shape from there.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
That's excellent. Thank you for sharing.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So could you give us an overview of what environmental engineering.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Is for the audience. I can so.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Environmental engineering is the engineering that focuses on improving the
environment and also managing the systems that we already have
place in the environment. It includes management systems for improving
air quality, improving soil quality, improving water quality, and again
maintaining those treatment systems.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
A lot of people don't know this.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Environmental engineering is also focused around hazardous waste management and
waste management there are two delineations between that, but also
remedial design and then designing treatment systems as well.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So it is a whole umbrella. There's so much opportunity
with an environmental I love it. Yeah, I hope that
was clear enough. That was amazing. Thank you. I love that.
You are the first environmental.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Engineer we've had on the show, so you're putting us
on knowledge.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So I want to get into more about environmental engineering.
Is there what is the most pressing environmental challenges that
you currently see in today's world.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Pressing environmental challenges, I would definitely say there is a
newly emerging contaminant, or it's considered newly emerging. We've known
it's been around for quite some time, called p FOSS.
It's one of the biggest pressing issues in the environmental
industry because it's pretty much in everything, and p FOSS
is an umbrella for multiple contaminants p FOSS, p FO,
(04:26):
p FOA, So at first it was this big fearful
word until we realized it could be managed. The EVA
just released I think the MCL's just last year about
the limits. The only problem with this contaminant is it
persisted the environment in parts per trillion. So if something
is detectable at parts per trillion, that means it's a
little bit harder to manage, but everything.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Is efficiently being managed.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Good.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Now, what is it MCL? So an MCL means a
maximum contamination limit.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Hope, I got that right, Okay, it just means that,
remember how I said that word management. It just means
that if I find this, it's okay as long as
it stays at this level.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
So, so many people think that like, oh my gosh,
the environment is contaminated because I found X amount. As
long as your X amount is within a controllable limit,
your fine, Which is why we've had so many studies.
And this newly emerging contaminant has been newly emerging for
like a decade.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
It's been around for decades and decades and decades. Yeah, yeah,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So I want to ask, can you explain some of
the innovative technology so approaches in environmental engineering that you're
most excited about today?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Honestly innovative reproaches.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I actually just went to a I just went to
a company's first depiction of future smart city growth development
which is where they're trying to design entire cities and
redesign infrastructure to be the most sustainable.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
So there's like, oh all time electric h trains all time,
like solar panels that they're really taking pieces of infrastructure
from like Japanese infrastructure with how they manage.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Their environment because they have to manage their.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Environment in a completely different way than like somebody who's
like landlocked.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Was so I thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Smart city growth development was like a new innovative thing.
I don't even know fully about it, but it's one
of those things that motivates you to keep going. And yeah,
I thought that was cool, very cool. I had never
heard of it till you just said it. Yeah, that's excellent.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
So I want to ask, how do environmental engineers work
with other professionals such as policymakers urban planners to implement
sustainable solution that oh my.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Question, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Honestly, it is part of what I love being environmental,
is about how you're across the category because a big
word in environmental is compliance, right, So I'm constantly working
with a legal team or teams of other engineers who
because the data comes to me the consultant. But let's
say we have an exceedence, how is that handled legally?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
You know, how do we proceed from there?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So there's a lot of compliance and management when it
comes to that. But on the policy making side, something
has to happen where if there is like a persisting
environmental contamination or where a community has.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Been fully impacted.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And so I forget the statistic, but I think some
environmental cases end up having to be tried as civil cases.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Because hey, this is impacting this.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Environment, of this community, of this particular demographic. So there's
been multiple environmental cases, multiple environmental studies where lawmakers have
to sit down and say, hey, you know what, We've
got to reengineer this entire community.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Like there was Perrie County, Alabama. That's one of the
biggest cases.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Where people started doping ways from a certain other state.
And so I mean it had to be taken all
the way up Sivilly and tried by the EPA.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So it can get it can get really really amplified.
I wish I had a better word serving. No, this
was perfect. This is to educate people and things we
don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And you've already said so many great gyms that were
like not even ten minutes in.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So thank you for that, girl. I want to ask
what role does.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Renewable energy and energy efficiency play in the future of
environmental engineering.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
I mean, it is the future of environmental engineering. I
think what's so surprising about environmental is when you enter
into the industry, you have an understanding that people have
already maintained these proficient systems. So I remember my wastewater
engineering teacher told me one time, if it functions at
ninety nine point one percent, don't push yourself to get
to that point nine because we're already hitting the limits.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And so there's already so.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Many sustainable solutions in place that we as engineers are
working just towards to improve upon, so solar when that
type of thing, and these systems look a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Different than you than you would think.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
But yeah, I would say that renewable energy is always
it's always at the it's always at the center. I mean,
sustainability is the biggest buzzword in the industry because there's
always the room for continuous improvement upon the systems.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That we have in place.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
And yeah, you know, like like I talked about earlier
with like smart city growth development. We have so many
things in the works while we're maintaining the systems that
already do work.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yeah, that's awesome, thank you, Yeah you, energy efficiency, everybody
things to flow.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Lindsay, can you discuss some of the emerging trends in
waste management.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I would say, like, if you look at your company's initiatives,
some of y'all are probably going to see like zero
net carbon emissions, especially like an aerospace place or where
you have like a production facility with large admissions.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Or just zero net waste, right.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And so a lot of these companies are trying to
reduce the amount of waste that we send to landfills
or that we emit into the air. Because some people
think waste means like literal physical waste, like something that
I take over there and throw.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
In your trash can.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Lots of times waste is literally the by product of
what you're producing.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Okay, So like correct me a fum wrong.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
But any system that requires energy will output a certain
amount of waste, right, and so companies are on a
huge push right now within the waste.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Management space to reduce the emissions.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
There's always a focus on how can I reduce this
as a big popular one is zero net carbon emissions.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
So in the aerospace industry that's being pushed.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, or in these production facilities, like back when I
was an intern at Mercedes, I think my environmental lead
was was trying to combine with some of the ISO
fourteen thousand and one policies to push towards zero net
carbon emissions for the production facility too.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Oh wow, So those are.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
The emerging trends at least that I've got off the
top of my mind.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, I'm not perfect, Thank you. That's perfect, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
This is we're just teaching the audience what we don't know.
So this is all helping us learn a little bit
about how we can do better and they can.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Look up the idea.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, always do your research, guys, because I mean, hey,
I am an environmental engineer, but I'm not an expert
in each single element of every part.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Of the industry. That's okay.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
We appreciate the gyms you have given us, so thank you. Next,
I want to ask about what are some of the
most common misconceptions about environmental engineering.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I love this question. I'll get the misconceptions that I get.
So when you hear environmental you're the things that you
think are like green, yeah, or plants or like you know, trees, water. Yeah,
I mean it's true, but a lot of people will
be like, oh, so you're a super green bell.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Oh so you have your own guarde. Oh so you
have solar panels on your house.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
No. A big misconception is that environmental engineers or like
the barefoot walk in no slur intended, like tree huggers,
which are very necessary, by the way, love that go
hug a straight.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yes, but yeah, that would be a big misconception.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Like, environmental engineering is not me like walking outside and
cutting clippings of grass and putting you back. It's me
going out with like a sonic drill rig and drilling
like sixty feet into the ground to extract to understand
what's actually.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
In in this like in this material. Yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
See yeah, lindsay what role do environmental engineers play in
disaster response and recovery.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Such as all spills, fires, or floods.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I actually worked in emergency response, asked an environmental engineer
at a couple of incidents early on in my career.
And what I can tell you that environmental engineers do
is various. So you can have multiple roles, you can.
What I did was I became kind of like a
boots on the ground field tech because at the end
of the day, your goal as an environmental engineer is
(13:07):
to let this community and let the client know what
is occurring and what has occurred in this environment, if
it will spread, how it will persist in the environment,
and then the next step of how it will be
managed and how it will be reduced. So my emergency
response situation was actually.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
A trained derailment.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I won't get into the specifics I had to sign
an NDA, but I literally did something called creek washing
where you go into the creek bed. There was a
contaminant that had spilled out from a train ridged into
the creek.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
And this is a water source.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So whenever you have a water source, the contaminant's going
to give in the water and then be able to
persist through the ground.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
There's groundwater systems.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
And so what you do is you have to flush
this product out of the creek and then again we
bring back into that word management, we then track, hey,
has this contaminant level gone down?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
What's my MCA.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Well, you have a limited amount of time to reduce
that exceedance, So what systems are we going to put
in place to also assist us in reducing this contamination. Also,
I did a residential soil sampling because lots of times
when I'm doing an emergency response situation, the reason why
it's such an emergency response is because it's community centered.
(14:23):
So this is real people, real houses, real properties being impacted.
So I will literally go on people's property and take
a soil sample from their property to understand is this
contaminant here?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
How?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
How, what's the what's the volume of this? So that
that's Yeah, it's it's hard, but to summarize that long
winded response, you're just giving an under You're you're really
stepping into.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Your consultant shoes.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I'm really just letting everyone understand from not only a
data point of view, but when you obtain data, you know,
as an engineer, you have to make it clear.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
To what it means. Yes, right, got to everyone.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I gotta. I have to make the person in the
community understand what's going on, and I also have to
let the client understand what's going on so then we
can take the next steps forward.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I love it. Thanks, Yes, very good.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
A lot of that It's good to see, you know,
because we always see first responders, like even with California recentarch.
But it's good to know, you know, you all get
to do resources, see different things and help as well.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
With the first responders. So thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Can you share a success story from one of your
projects where environmental engineering made a significant difference? I mean,
you just said some amazing a second ago, But do
you have any seeing the stands out or one of
your favorites that you can share with us.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Honestly, you know what, I probably will just speak from
a Lindsay point of view.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, back to that same derailment is that was my
success story became when I really understood the mindset of
what I do is to help improve the communities that
the environmental impact is happening within. Yes, so I had
gone to a residence residence and taken a sample, and
she came out to me, and she was obviously very emotional,
(16:09):
because people do not if you're not an environmental engineer,
you don't really understand what's going on, and all you
see is like high viz vest and boots and equipment coming.
It can be very mind boggling. Even if I find
nothing in your soil. Just that presence and approach to
itself is.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Like what is going on? So I feel like in
that moment, I really stepped.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Into the shoes of being able to communicate and helping
kind of reduce the panic that was there because where
she was nothing, no contamination. We have to be very
limiting in what we can say in das and what
we communicate. But I think my success story comes from
me being able to have an interpersonal interaction with a
(16:57):
community that was actually impacted that I helped reducing impact,
and so it's very personal.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I wish I.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Could say her name and everything we talked about what happened,
But that was like a key.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Moment for me. I'll always remember and I love it.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Hey, thank you, So lindsay, how do you stay updated
on the latest research, technologies and trends within your field?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
M I definitely like being in your industry. As soon
as somebody they'll send me an email and be like.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Hey, we need somebody because this is going on right now.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
It's so itally to be very immediate where I have
to brush up on that information.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
But I also feel like you never.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Stopp being a student, so you know, I love going
to conferences. I'm actually going to NESBY conference in Chicago
where I get to surround myself with the things that
are going on in the industry and do some recruitment. Yeah.
So I'd definitely say for me, it's a little bit more,
you know, on the nose. Hey, I got this email,
and this is happening in the industry, or this is
(17:52):
newly emerging, brush up on this, or like literally immersing
myself into the community and conference and engaging in that way.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Good. Also an occasional LinkedIn post. Hey you read a
little random article. I love that. Can you tell us
what NESBEE stands for for those that may not know.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
The National Society of Black Engineers, Well, thank you movies
of course.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
My next question for you is what advice would you
give to companies or individuals looking to reduce their environmental
footprint through engineering solutions?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Ooh, for companies looking to reduce your looking to reduce
your environmental impact, I would say, one, understand what your
product is, Understand what you're producing, understand what you're releasing,
and get an environmental engineering company involved. I mean there's
top environmental consulting firms. Yeah, get someone, get some experts involved. Yeah,
(18:46):
because it it might be more complex than you think,
but it can also be just as equally simple as
you think.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Good. Thank you, Lindsey.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Have you been involved in any initiatives or programs to
encourage young women or underrepresented to pursue STEM fields.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yes, yes, I have.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
That actually just brought back such a nice memory for me,
c but also kind of a frictional memory.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
When I was at my co op there.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Was one other black engineering female. Yeah, and she was
actually a processing engineer, materials and processing engineer.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Really cool, yes, me, I mean she was an.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Amazing person, and we just realized, you know what, there
is not one a lot of diversity here, and there's
not a lot of understanding why that would be important
and how that could contribute to the space. To the
knowledge that we started a DEI initiative there to one
bring in more people and then two to educate the
people already there.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
On diversity, equity and inclusion.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
And that was already STEM centered because we're literally at
this automotive production facility, so kind of like you know,
mulchicoe to that.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
But yeah, I was an amazing journey, learned a lot.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, that's awesome, and how you made that impact for
other people that look like you for them to have
different things to experience when they get there.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yeah, I think that when somebody it was just interesting
because what happened is that you sometimes forget the value
that you.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Bring just based on how you show up.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yes, So I had so many like microaggressive interactions to
where you know.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
People would be like, oh, what are you doing here?
Literally an engineer, Yeah, and they'd be like what are
you doing here? You lost or you know, just just
interactions like.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
That, or where they're begging you to participate in the
photo shoot and you're like, I'm just that pretty No,
they want they need to diversify the photo. So in
creating that initiative, I just I am so proud that
we were able to foster more engagement with that program,
right and bring in more people.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah, and then you go to break down some barriers
and educate people. Education is a frictional process. Yeah. So yeah,
that's beautiful, that's wonderful. I'm glad you can make that impact.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I wanted to get back a little bit to the
field of environmental engineering. I want to ask how you
see it evolving over the next five to ten years.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Ooh, that's a big question. You know what I would say,
in my.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
How many years if I've been in this industry now
four or five, The way that I've already started to
see it change is the way that I continue.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
To see it change. So a decade to us is.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
So much shorter than we think it is, right, So
I think some of these evolutions will happen over the
course of the next decade instead of how people want
it to happen in like two years, especially.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
In relation to climate crisis.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
So I just see us continuously improving it, like water
treatment systems, like taking a page out of you know,
countries like the Netherlands who have mastered water treatment systems,
water management systems right or Japan with literally how they
build sustainability into their infrastructure, like having buildings that are
(22:19):
reflective of the sunlight off of the building, and right
they have these super cool like smart sitty growth like
trees and vertical farming and things like that. So I
also foresee maybe just changes in the agricultural industry with
more engineered soil options and treatment options like that.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So broad broad jest of it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, cool, No, We're going to kind of get into
a little bit about your journey again and tips for success.
You had things you may have wanted to change, Yes,
things like that. So looking back, is there anything you
would have done differently in your stam journey?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Oh? Absolutely, for sure. My immediate thought is back to
student life.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I would have put so much more effort towards understanding
what is I actually wanted to do with my degree.
In college, your mindset is get the degree, get the degree,
get the degree, but you don't think.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
About like, at least I didn't think about it like
I was just trying to finish.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
I didn't think about the why I wanted to get
it or what I wanted to do with it. So yeah,
even if it's just a little bit of effort to
start to just do a little research into like the
actual part of environmental engineering that you want to partake in.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I agree. I was the same way trying to get
exact let me get this degree.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
They tell you, they're like, oh, you're an engineer, you'll
get a job, what kind of job and what will
you enjoy?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yes, oh my gosh, yeah, that's important. Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Another question I want to ask is what advice would
you give to young engineers or students who are interested
in pursuing a career in environmental engineering.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Okay, if you're interested in the environmental engineering, meet an engineer,
Meet an environmental engineer, because your definition of environmental engineering
versus what that role actually requires might be different. I
remember breaking into the industry in it being not expected,
not how I expect.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
It at all.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
So you might be an environmental engineer, but you might
not want to be a wastewater engineer. Okay, you might
want to actually focus on design, or or maybe you
want to just focus on the consulting or so. Because
there's so many different things you can do with an
environmental engineering I would definitely say actually speak to one,
speak to multiple, and just kind of gauge their jobs
(24:37):
and their roles so you again can like go back
to what you like to do or figure it out.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Thank you, lindsay yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
And then our final question for today is what are
three tips for success in navigating your STEM journey and
STEM career?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Three tips for success and navigating your STEM journey or
your STEM career. Yes, first one that to mind is mentorship.
Find a good mentor that can help you, that can
give you some insight into your actual journey of career development. Yeah,
(25:14):
that's my first tip is find a good mentor. My
next tip understand your study habits. I think if I
had understood that the way I studied in high school
should have been way different than how I studied in college,
would have been so helpful.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Oh yeah, yeah, Oh I agree, That's what I'm saying.
You remember being able to a an AP class without writing? Yeah,
and engineering and just stem what is it? Science?
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Technology, engineering and mathematics is so much more than retention.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You have to be able to apply and deliver. So yeah,
that's that's.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
My second tip is understanding your study habits and also
diversifying them because how you study for heat transfer definitely
different than how I studied for differential equations.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Third tip, this is probably my favorite tip. As engineers.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
I remember in college we had to take a Columns one,
two three class as one of our electives. Oh I
would I always like to say, remember your presentation.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Remember how you show up.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
So many of us, I know, at least for me
being an engineer, we show up introverted. And that's okay
because I mean sometimes you're behind the desk. You're the
one who's delivering on the data. But I would definitely
say make sure you elevate your presentation.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And how you show up in a real Yeah. Always
just always keep that with you. I love it. Yeah,
thank you, Lindsey, you're And how do we meet?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I remember I was there a few years and when
Lindsay was coming in, we met and we clicked immediately.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
We did. We just did.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
We both had super like fun energy. Yeah, we were
both in the school of engineer. And then it's just
transcended to here.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Almost like was that a hardaway hardways whenever.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Engineering buildings at the University of Alabama several times. But
networking and sustaining friendships and relationships you never know, Like
I move to Dallas and she was already here and
she welcomed me, and now we're here together both getting
to talk about engineering and give tips that we wish
we had known and others. So definitely network, Definitely make
genuine connections. That was the networking.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Start your network now, because what people can do for
you isn't always professional like you might once you land
your career, they might send you to Seattle.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So hopefully maybe you have kept a connection. I kept
a connection who knew we would both move to Dallas
and that kind of thing. So yeah, we wouldn't mount.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
We've outr but we know today we are thriving things
to the University of alabis Thanks to the.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
University of Alabasa degree Goal Tide.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Thank you to the engineering program at the University of Alabama.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yes, thank you to Nesby. Yes, hey, I mean big
shout out to Nesby. We hope to see everybody at
the conference in Chicago this year.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yes, so yeah, good Well, Lindsay, thank you so much
for being a guest today. We appreciate your gyms of knowledge,
your SIM journey and tips for success and navigating the
STEM industry. Thank you all for watching all. Thanks then
with Ashley. Please like and subscribe and tune in next
week for more things.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Tune in, y'all. Thank you,
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