Anh is an environmental engineer and designs water and waste water treatment facilities. Without environmental engineers we would have no sanitation, open defecation, no potable water and major disease problems - her work helps people and the environment co-exist. Her slides are available here.
When Anh was at high school she liked chemistry and math, and wanted to study them more at
college. She selected a college that was in state (Arizona) but was also a few hours from home so she had her independence. In her first years at college she studied Chemistry, Math and Physics, which provided her with solid building blocks in these fields before adding in chemical engineering (including topics like - fluid dynamics, thermodynamics) and environmental engineering topics (including - hazardous waste management, water treatment design).
When she was studying for undergraduate degree she did an internship, which was a research scientist internship and was also the basis for her dissertation. This helped her to realize that she wanted to become an environmental engineer and that she'd need a masters degree to achieve this goal.
After graduating with her masters degree she worked in an office that was responsible for reviewing specs and design plans for water system engineering projects submitted by other companies. After nearly a year on the job she knew this wasn't the job for her. She wanted to be creating and designing systems not spending her time reviewing the work of others. She moved to a company called Carolla Engineers which is a consulting company. She is a lead engineer and works on the design of water and waste water facilities. She has been working there for 8 years. In that time she's designed about 5 or so waste water facilities.
To become a certified engineer requires taking professional engineering exams and you then have the letters P.E. after your name (Professional Engineer). To become certified requires taking an 8 hour exam, which requires you to be familiar with many of the subjects you studied at college. Then you need to work for 4 years for a company that can supervise your work (or 3 if you have a masters degree in engineering). At the end of the 4 years you have to take another 8 hour exam. Although Anh describes herself as an environmental engineer and that's the type of work she does, she took the exams to become a Professional Civil Engineer, as its common for the work she does to be done by people who have civil engineering degrees.
Anh provided two great diagrams on the water treatment process showing how leaves a lake and is then guided through a system and many processes to arrive out our houses. She also showed the waste water treatment process as well - so cool to learn about all the different processes that happen to the waste water so it can be cleaned and used in different ways.
She showed us some of her design work. When she's working on a project she will have to think about the design of the process for one part of the water or waste water - she knows what parts she needs to include in the design of the system (e.g., sizes of tanks, and pipes) and she'll sketch them in a simple design. She passes off her sketches and annotations to a CAD (computer aided design) designer who will convert her sketches into 2-D diagrams, and eventually into 3-D model drawings. Sometimes they'll even print with a 3-D printer! During this process there is a lot of discussion between all the people working on the project and changes are made. There are a lot of different type of engineers working on the project (civil engineers, electrical engineers, geologists, etc). Everyone has an area of expertise and the design solution has to take into account the needs and opinions of the group.
She loves what she does, and believes its an honor to work as an environmental engineer to help people and the earth co-exist. She showed a graph that shows the recent massive population growth of the last 100 years or so and that as there's a limited amount of water in the world we have to be creative to distribute the water mindfully.
Anh is involved in a non-profit Water for People that raises funds for projects in countries where they need potable water and sanitation solutions. Today 884 million people live without potable water and 2.5 billion people are without sanitation. Its also a serious women's problem as in many of these countries it is the responsibility of the women and girls to walk for miles to collect water everyday which can interrupt their opportunities to go to school or do other tasks.
Anh was enthusiastic about her work. She encourages us to visit a waste water facility called Bright Water Waste Facilities http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/brightwater-center/education/tour-plant.aspx - they offer tours, and their website is full of great information about the processes.
When Anh was at high school she liked chemistry and math, and wanted to study them more at
college. She selected a college that was in state (Arizona) but was also a few hours from home so she had her independence. In her first years at college she studied Chemistry, Math and Physics, which provided her with solid building blocks in these fields before adding in chemical engineering (including topics like - fluid dynamics, thermodynamics) and environmental engineering topics (including - hazardous waste management, water treatment design).
When she was studying for undergraduate degree she did an internship, which was a research scientist internship and was also the basis for her dissertation. This helped her to realize that she wanted to become an environmental engineer and that she'd need a masters degree to achieve this goal.
After graduating with her masters degree she worked in an office that was responsible for reviewing specs and design plans for water system engineering projects submitted by other companies. After nearly a year on the job she knew this wasn't the job for her. She wanted to be creating and designing systems not spending her time reviewing the work of others. She moved to a company called Carolla Engineers which is a consulting company. She is a lead engineer and works on the design of water and waste water facilities. She has been working there for 8 years. In that time she's designed about 5 or so waste water facilities.
To become a certified engineer requires taking professional engineering exams and you then have the letters P.E. after your name (Professional Engineer). To become certified requires taking an 8 hour exam, which requires you to be familiar with many of the subjects you studied at college. Then you need to work for 4 years for a company that can supervise your work (or 3 if you have a masters degree in engineering). At the end of the 4 years you have to take another 8 hour exam. Although Anh describes herself as an environmental engineer and that's the type of work she does, she took the exams to become a Professional Civil Engineer, as its common for the work she does to be done by people who have civil engineering degrees.
Anh provided two great diagrams on the water treatment process showing how leaves a lake and is then guided through a system and many processes to arrive out our houses. She also showed the waste water treatment process as well - so cool to learn about all the different processes that happen to the waste water so it can be cleaned and used in different ways.
She showed us some of her design work. When she's working on a project she will have to think about the design of the process for one part of the water or waste water - she knows what parts she needs to include in the design of the system (e.g., sizes of tanks, and pipes) and she'll sketch them in a simple design. She passes off her sketches and annotations to a CAD (computer aided design) designer who will convert her sketches into 2-D diagrams, and eventually into 3-D model drawings. Sometimes they'll even print with a 3-D printer! During this process there is a lot of discussion between all the people working on the project and changes are made. There are a lot of different type of engineers working on the project (civil engineers, electrical engineers, geologists, etc). Everyone has an area of expertise and the design solution has to take into account the needs and opinions of the group.
She loves what she does, and believes its an honor to work as an environmental engineer to help people and the earth co-exist. She showed a graph that shows the recent massive population growth of the last 100 years or so and that as there's a limited amount of water in the world we have to be creative to distribute the water mindfully.
Anh is involved in a non-profit Water for People that raises funds for projects in countries where they need potable water and sanitation solutions. Today 884 million people live without potable water and 2.5 billion people are without sanitation. Its also a serious women's problem as in many of these countries it is the responsibility of the women and girls to walk for miles to collect water everyday which can interrupt their opportunities to go to school or do other tasks.
Anh was enthusiastic about her work. She encourages us to visit a waste water facility called Bright Water Waste Facilities http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/brightwater-center/education/tour-plant.aspx - they offer tours, and their website is full of great information about the processes.