It is a field that sparks interest and ignites passion among engineers,
including Debra Santangelo, M. Susan Tweeton, and Tequilla Clayton Hurt—all
whom choose electrical engineering and are certain they made the correct
career choice.
Debra Santangelo,
Program Manager,
Motorola, Inc.
Predicting the current downturn in U.S. electrical engineering jobs
as temporary, Debra Santangelo, program manager, VoIP & Multimedia
Technology Group at Schaumburg, IL-headquartered Motorola, Inc. (www.motorola.com),
remarks: “Given our global philosophy and the rapid erosion of
today’s borders, new careers in electrical engineering will evolve.”
Certain that we have only scratched the surface of what is possible,
she contends electrical engineers of tomorrow will discover new technology
that we only now dream of or haven’t even yet considered.
Citing Motorola as a well-respected, highly innovative world leader
in multiple markets—public safety, mobile devices, and home entertainment,
among them—Santangelo stresses the company’s consistent
search for new talent to join its current 68,000-employee workforce.
It’s a great time for women, she believes. “Young women
today must be empowered to pursue the careers they choose, unlike my
generation when females were discouraged from pursuing electrical engineering
because of their gender,” says Santangelo.
Recalling that she discovered a love of technology—notably telecommunications—while
in college, Santangelo followed in the footsteps of her father-in-law,
a 35-year veteran engineer at Motorola. Joining the company after graduating
with a bachelor’s degree and MBA from Loyola University of Chicago,
she’s been with Motorola for 17 years. She earned a master’s
certificate, project management, ESI International; PMP (project management
professional) certification, and teaches project management at Northwestern
University.
Tasked with managing the delivery of assets and solutions to Motorola’s
product teams, Santangelo provides project/program oversight of programs
in Singapore, Perth (Australia), Bangalore (India), Nanjing (China),
and KL (Malaysia)—a schedule that requires her to work with various
time zones. “That’s something I didn’t find in college
textbooks,” comments. She also stresses the importance of management
skills when global projects are spread across the world.
With a unique combination of technical and interpersonal skills, Santangelo
is well positioned to mentor and build long-term relationships. Viewing
her career as an opportunity to expand her knowledge, she credits her
unfailing quest of learning as the catalyst for her success. And she
enjoys seeing other women follow in her path. “Introducing girls
to electrical engineering in grades K-12 would be a big step, as would
the inclusion of more positive role models,” she states. “Currently
not enough young women see electrical engineering as a road to success.”
Lamenting the fact that some parents discourage their children from
seeking a career in engineering, she adds, “My early mentors had
a profound and positive effect on me.”
Facing and overcoming challenges is what Santangelo most enjoys about
her work. “Technical expertise only gets you so far. As a program
manager, it is my interpersonal skills that set me apart from others,”
she notes. Those skills come in handy, too, when volunteering as a parent
representative. Working directly with school staff to develop programs
that enrich students, she’s been involved with a reading program
and math skills event.
M. Susan Tweeton,
Senior Electrical Engineer,
Rockwell Collins
The eighth of nine children raised on a dairy farm in rural Minnesota,
M. Susan Tweeton is now a married mother with two daughters, ages five
and eight. She is also a senior electrical engineer at Cedar Rapids,
IA-headquartered Rockwell Collins (www.rockwellcollins.com), a pioneer
in the design, production, and support of innovative solutions for the
aerospace and defense industries. A global employer of 20,000, the Rockwell
Collins workforce applies their insights and foresight to create a trusted
source of communication and aviation electronics solutions. Today, the
company has numerous openings for electrical, systems, and software
engineers. “Electrical engineering positions include ASIC/FPGA,
radio frequency (RF), power supply, and test equipment designers,”
notes Tweeton, mentioning that systems and software engineers often
have backgrounds in electrical engineering.
A graduate of Wichita State University, KS, with a bachelor’s
degree in electrical engineering, Tweeton earned a master’s degree
in electrical engineering as well, with concentrations in communications,
mathematics, and digital design, from the University of Alabama, Huntsville
(UAH). She recalls the “ah ha” moment that set her on her
career path, saying: “A discussion with my uncle during my senior
year in high school clued me in to what it was that engineers did. Fascinated,
I took his advice and looked into engineering coursework at a local
university.”
After narrowing her selection to the civil, mechanical, and electrical
sectors, she explains how she arrived at her final choice. “At
the time the market for civil engineers wasn’t stellar. I also
knew that mechanical engineering required some welding and, having injured
myself during a welding session in high school, was determined not to
revisit that experience. That left electrical engineering,” says
Tweeton. “Once I made my decision, I never looked back.”
Following graduation, and six years of electrical engineering work in
Alabama, Tweeton and her husband yearned to move closer to “home.”
“Both sets of parents lived in Minnesota and, as we were planning
to start a family, the idea of being close to grandparents was appealing,”
she remarks. “Rockwell Collins provided the right location. After
interviewing, we knew it would offer the right professional environment
as well.”
With Rockwell Collins since 1996, Tweeton now designs very large scale
integration (VLSI) devices, specifically field programmable gate arrays
(FPGA). Responsible for an entire FPGA, she, among other tasks, writes
requirements and designs and verifies the solutions. “The FPGAs
provide graphics and video solutions for Rockwell Collins’s cockpit
and tactical displays,” she explains, adding that, in her capacity
as a senior electrical engineer, she additionally provides direction
to her department on the use of processes and tools.
Recognizing a recent expansion in career possibilities for electrical
engineers, Tweeton looks back on her own college days when her only
option within the electrical engineering curriculum was a power option.
“Now, universities provide many more career paths, including,
but not limited to, the field of computers, biomedical, communications,
and optics,” she reports. “Salaries are improving, too,
and I don’t see electrical engineering slowing down any time soon.”
Her advice to young women in the throes of career-making decisions is
three-fold. “First, realize that you are capable,” she advises.
“Once you realize that, the next step is to examine your interests.
Step three would be to look into engineering fields that may satisfy
those interests.” Adamant that the stereotype of engineers must
be dispelled, Tweeton mentions that women and men in the field come
from diverse backgrounds and points of view. “The image of engineers
as geeky and introverted simply isn’t true,” she says. “By
dispelling the stereotype, we open the field to more people and make
it more diverse.”
As for engineering being a male-dominated profession, Tweeton believes
that could well change. She points out that doctors were once traditionally
men. “Today, the number of women in medical school surpasses their
male counterparts. Women discovered they could satisfy their interests
and professional desires in the medical field and perhaps that may one
day be the case for engineering,” opines Tweeton, who thoroughly
enjoys working on a product, seeing it operate, and being able to say
‘Hey, I did that’.”
Looking back, Tweeton notes that her small-town upbringing was not an
impediment to pursue engineering as a career. “No matter where
you live, children can be instilled with a sense that they are capable
of doing anything they put their minds to,” she says. “Whenever
the opportunity arises, I point out that out of my high-school graduating
class of 25, three students went on to be engineers—and all three
were women.”
Tequilla Clayton Hurt,
Power System Electrical Engineer,
Tennessee Valley Authority
It was during junior high that Tequilla Clayton Hurt discovered she
enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together. “I
was intrigued by how they worked,” she says. An eighth-grade exam
that analyzed comprehension level, math reasoning, and subject area
interest revealed her potential for engineering. “That set me
on my career path,” says Hurt, who went on to earn a bachelor’s
degree in electrical engineering from Christian Brothers University,
Memphis, TN.
“In college I interned with three companies and garnered tremendous
experience—notably in the areas of quality and network electrical
engineering,” states Hurt. “There’s no doubt that
my electrical engineering core curriculum, internship experience, and
the career workshops I participated in helped me obtain my current position.”
Hurt is as a power system electrical engineer at Knoxville, TN-headquartered
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (www.tva.gov).”
Of the three internships, it was working in the power industry that
triggered Hurt’s decision to remain in that arena. After graduation
in July 2004, she interviewed at TVA’s Chattanooga location where
she has since been employed. “I was drawn to TVA’s triple
focus to provide energy, environmental stewardship, and economic development,”
explains Hurt.
Today, the TVA is responsible to deliver safe, affordable, reliable
power to 8.7 million residential customers and 650,000 businesses and
industries in a seven-state area. Overseeing environmental stewardship,
by promoting a healthier environment, has significantly helped the region
thrive. Its commitment to build partnerships between and among businesses
and the community has resulted in an increased number of quality jobs
and flourishing economic development.
Currently with the transmission and reliability organization’s
market participant scheduling group, Hurt develops and maintains products
and services that enhance the reliability and efficiency of TVA power
systems and program operations. “My problem-solving and software
expertise, plus the fact that I am a fast learner and innovative thinker,
are all attributes that are important to TVA,” she says.
Commenting on the nation’s shortage of power industry engineers,
Hurt finds a huge gap between the hiring of new graduates and the number
of retiring engineers. She cites a power industry statistic projecting
a 45% increase in new jobs within the next ten years. “I see many
opportunities in the future for electrical engineers, both in the power
industry and at high-tech companies in general,” she states. She
does, however, stress the importance to realize that the power industry
changes directions constantly. “But individuals with excellent
project-management and problem-solving skills who are able to work under
pressure, meet time-crunching deadlines, and have a strong work ethic
can be successful in this arena,” advises Hurt.
A member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE),
Power Engineering Society (PES), Women in Engineering Society (WIE),
Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and National Society of Black Engineers
(NSBE), Hurt participates in the transmission and reliability organization’s
mentoring and recruiting programs as well as in agency outreach programs.
Along with many of the 12,000+ dedicated TVA employees, she volunteers
her time and skills in the community. Says Hurt: “There’s
nothing like loving to go to work and being excited about what you do
everyday. TVA is like a family. Everyone helps advance each other’s
skills while collectively working to better strategic processes and
decision-making.”
