International Women in Engineering Day: Celebrating engineering heroes

 

Meet Monika Rao, who's based in Calgary, AB and has proudly been an engineer for 11 years.

Q: What is your role at Enbridge?

I’m a Specialist in Enbridge’s Gas Transmission and Midstream (GTM) Asset Investment Planning and Management (AIPM) team and I also chair the Calgary chapter of our Females in Engineering (FEMINEN) employee resource group.

Q: What does your job entail today?

Well, it entails a lot—our team is leading transformational change within GTM.

The one thing that I love about this role is how it integrates all the different engineering opportunities I’ve had in the past. In my current role, I get to apply all my early career knowledge, strategically, on the projects I’m leading to ensure that our assets as safe, reliable and profitable.

My current focus within AIPM is leading and coordinating the GTM long-range forecast. It’s a herculean effort for anyone who is familiar with the size of GTM.  It requires a significant amount of cross-company collaboration to develop and review the hundreds of robust business cases and implementation plans that are submitted for funding.  It also requires inclusive thinking.  With so many teams contributing to this process we, as a team of teams, have to make sure the contribution of every stakeholder is considered fairly and consistently.

Q: Can you tell us about your path to engineering?

My path to engineering was one with several twists and turns–even I’m surprised the universe somehow made sure I became an engineer. It truly is my calling.

I went to university having no idea how the education system worked and what types of opportunities would be available for me after I graduated. All I knew was that I wanted to understand how the universe worked and I had trust that my love for science and math would somehow get me where I needed to go. I completed a degree in biology because of my strong interest in the human body, health, biochemistry, and botany. What I learned was that interest and passion are two different things. Interest means you learn about science. Passion means you contribute and develop the science. I remember attending interview after interview and being disappointed because I couldn’t envision myself contributing to the profession for the next 30 years.  

After one particular long day of interviews, feeling like a complete failure having wasted so much time and money, my Dad walked in and said, “You are too smart of a girl to let this one thing define you. You are going to be a somebody. I think you are supposed to be an engineer. Let’s register for engineering and try it for one year. If it doesn’t work, then you only wasted a year.” 

Four months later I was back at university in the Engineering department. I remember thinking “I found my calling” and that was that.

Q: Who is one role model who inspired you to become and engineer?

My dad was the one who invoked my interest in science and math and made it a part of my childhood. I have memories from as early as 4-years-old of him teaching me how to build and fix things. He’d always come up with fun things to do, which I realized later were, actually, science projects.  

Over the last few years, I’ve come across a lot of literature that explains how dads tend to play a critical role in championing a daughter’s career in Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM). I agree with it based on my own experience. One critical thing that he taught me is perseverance and because of this I’m reminded that there is nothing too big or too hard that I cannot do–this goes for you too.

Q: What is one piece of advice you have for the next generation of (female) engineers?

I mentor a lot of young female engineers and there is one exercise I do with all of them. I ask them “who do you think you will be in five years?” And they tell me their vision of themselves in five years. I then go and find that person for them to connect with–the one they think they are going to be. After talking to their career connection, they almost always come back saying something along the lines of, “thank you for introducing me to that person. I’ve thought about what I imagined my career to be like and I need to reevaluate my plan for myself”, and then we discuss.

I do this exercise because of what I experienced–it was a great idea, it had potential, but I had no one in my network that could show me the future state of a career in biology. It’s a very real issue because there are so few women in science to begin with, you don’t have visibility, to understand what the profession entails. If I can help provide visibility earlier for women in science, I am confident the same women are making and will make better use of their time and money to not just have careers they love, but also make a contribution to their profession which will be critical to their future success.

 

Meet Dawn MacDonald, who's based in London, UK and is a 10-year team member at Enbridge.

Q: What is your role at Enbridge and how many years have you been an engineer?

I'm currently a Senior Technical Manager in the Projects Development team, working as part of Enbridge's Maple Power joint venture in the support of our European offshore wind portfolio. I've been an engineer for over 20 years and 2021 marks 10 years of being a part of the Enbridge team.

Q: What does your job entail today?

I work with our various partners in the European offshore wind sector to ensure the projects in our portfolio meet or exceed our targets for safety, budget, schedule, and performance as well as leading the technical evaluation of new investment opportunities. It's a fascinating role in which I get to work in a sector with rapidly evolving technology, across many different jurisdictions and with fantastic colleagues from a broad range of backgrounds. I also really appreciate the opportunity to work across all phases of a project – I could be scoping out options for a competitive tender in the morning, dealing with regulatory risks over lunch and close the day out looking at construction reports.

Q: Can you tell us about your path to engineering?

I entered the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba straight out of high school and chose a specialization in Industrial Engineering after my completing my first year. I didn't really have any exposure to engineering before entering the faculty, but I knew that math and science were personal strengths, so I decided to try it.

Q: Who is one role model who inspired you to become an engineer?

My high school physics teacher, Mr. Roy, noticed my aptitude in his class and encouraged me to consider engineering. He was a gifted teacher and beyond what I learned in his class, his openness about his own road to teaching inspired me to take advantage of my personal aptitudes and find my own path.

Q: What is one piece of advice you have for the next generation of (female) engineers?

Don't wait to be recognized. If you see an opportunity that you're interested in (a promotion, field work, a new project), put yourself forward!

 

Meet Cathy Dunn, a Senior Regional Engineer who's based in Minot, ND.

Q: What is your role at Enbridge and how many years have you been an engineer? 

From 2008 to now I’ve been a Senior Regional Engineer in the Midwest Region (MWR) Regional Services team with Enbridge. I started my engineering career with an energy/mining engineering consultant company working on projects out of their Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon offices for almost 7 years before moving to the U.S.

Q: What does your job entail today?

I’ve been fortunate, in my years with Enbridge, to have been a part of several engineering teams as my region has transformed and expanded. My different roles have been in the field and in office and included titles in Project Management, Business Development, Operations Support and Pipeline Integrity, and Regional Support.   

Q: Can you tell us about your path to engineering?

I’ve always been interested in design and building. I took a career path assessment in high school that identified engineering and architecture as my top two career choices and although I began a Master’s in Architecture program following a Fine Arts Degree, I changed over to complete my second degree in Civil Engineering finding my strengths in math, science and solving problems. 

Q: Who is one role model who inspired you to become an engineer? 

Not one but two people—both my parents in their own way. My mother was a role model of a university graduate and full-time working mother in her career as a registered nurse. And my father who, although not an engineer by trade, spent much of his free time building, fixing, and working on all kinds of things—mechanical, electrical, construction—all around the house, garage and yard. Both of my parents provided me the building blocks for an engineering career.

Q: What is one piece of advice you have for the next generation of (female) engineers? 

Be confident in your ability. You may still, at times, be the only female in the room or on a work site but follow your path, trust your skills and be yourself.

 

Meet Carolina Rivera-Minaya, an Industrial Engineer and Category Manager at Enbridge who's based in Houston, TX.

Q: What is your role at Enbridge and how many years have you been an engineer? 

My role at Enbridge is Category Manager. I have been an Engineer for close to 20 years and most of my career has been in the oil and gas sector. I hold both a bachelor’s and Master’s in Industrial Engineering, which focuses on optimizing complex processes, systems, or organizations through integrated systems, I am also PMP certified.   

Q: What does your job entail today? 

My current job as a Category Manager entails defining and implementing the enterprise strategy for certain professional service categories (e.g. land survey, line locating, rental equipment) and managing key supplier relationships. I drive strategic sourcing initiatives), enact the category end-to-end procurement cycle as per company guidelines, manage supplier performance and contracts while also ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction.

Q: Can you tell us about your path to engineering?

When I was in high school, I discovered my interest in math and sciences. I really enjoyed solving math problems and had a very influential math teacher who advised me to study at her former university. When I was about to graduate in high school, my parents took me to visit the best engineering schools in my home country Peru and I had the opportunity to talk to professors from the different disciplines. I finally decided to study industrial engineering since I had an interest in manufacturing, process improvements and business, and it was a good match for me.

Q: Who is one role model who inspired you to become and engineer?

I was inspired to pursue higher education by my parents, and by two special women, one is my aunt Liliana who became an Emeritus Professor at the University of Connecticut. Even though she is a PhD in Education, her persistence in obtaining higher education was impactful when I was younger. My second role model, particularly for engineer, is my older cousin Virginia who is a Petrochemical Engineer. She helped me whenever I had math questions in high school, and we talked extensively about engineering when we met at family reunions.

Q: What is one piece of advice you have for the next generation of (female) engineers? 

My advice for them is to be strong and follow your passion. We (women) are still a minority in colleges but find the courage from this fact and express your curiosity, communicate your ideas and interests. Build your personal brand from the beginning and find mentors to guide you through your career. Also try to keep up with technology and new advances in engineering and sciences.