Women in Engineering

Stephanie Kay Larsen, Senior Verification Engineer, Advantech B+B SmartWorx Bachelor of Science Degree Computer Information Systems from DeVry Institute of Technology (although now it is called (DeVry University) My name is Stephanie Larsen. I am a Senior Verification Engineer, at Advantech B+B SmartWorx for over 8 years. As a verification engineer, my responsibilities include designing…

Kathleen Mitford is an EVP and Chief Strategy Officer at PTC. She oversees key organizations including Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Strategic Alliances; Corporate Marketing; and PTC’s Academic program. Prior to her appointment, Kathleen led both the Product and Research & Development (R&D) organizations as EVP of Products. During her tenure, PTC received numerous industry analyst…

Sylvie Hyman, Account Application Engineer, Wurth Engineering Degree: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, University: University of Florida I am originally from South Florida and attended the University of Florida from 2013 to 2017. I majored in mechanical engineering and was involved in various organizations such as UF’s Machine Intelligence Lab and Team Florida Cycling.…

Kristina Valko, Applications Engineer, PennEngineering, Danboro, PA – USA Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, Minor in Integrated Design University of Delaware (Newark, DE) From a young age, Kristina Valko had an engineering mindset. It was no surprise that she embraced art and STEM classes throughout her early school days and graduated from college with a…

Kim Heinle Nelson, Senior Quality Engineer Manager, Digi-Key Electronics BS Industrial Engineering and Management, 1991, North Dakota State University How does the culture of Digi-Key include/support women, and why do you enjoy working here? When I started working at Digi-Key Electronics being female was to my advantage because most of the warehouse team members were…

Kristen N. Parrish, PhD, Silicon Carbide Systems Engineer, Wolfspeed Business Unit • PhD Electrical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 • MS Electrical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010 • BS Electrical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2008 Kristen Parrish is a Silicon Carbide Systems Engineer for Cree | Wolfspeed based…

Barbara Cima, Quality Engineer, Mitsubishi Electric BS in General Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Barbara Cima has worked in industrial automation for more than 15 years as both a production engineer and a supplier quality engineer. Her current focus is on quality assurance through supplier development and process and system design. She…

Kathleen Mitford, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, PTC Bachelor of Science, Philadelphia University (Now Thomas Jefferson University) Kathleen Mitford is an EVP and Chief Strategy Officer at PTC. She oversees key organizations including Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Strategic Alliances; Corporate Marketing; and PTC’s Academic program. Prior to her appointment, Kathleen led both the…

Brenda Discher, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Marketing, Siemens Digital Industries Software Bachelor of Science in Mechanical/Industrial Engineering and a Master’s of Business Administration in International Marketing and Finance from Eastern Michigan University Brenda Discher is senior vice president of strategy and marketing for Siemens Digital Industries Software, a business unit of Siemens Digital…

Denise Butler, Mechanical Engineer,  Bishop-Wisecarver B.S Mechanical Engineering, San Jose State University A.S. Engineering, Thomas Nelson Community College A.S. Science, Thomas Nelson Community College Denise Butler is a Mechanical Engineer at Bishop-Wisecarver in the R&D department. Her focus includes developing tests and interpreting data related to product development, as well as participating in presentations and…

Gabi Miholics, Application Development Specialist 3M Abrasive Systems Division BS, Chemical Engineering, Western University I started my adult life as a veterinary assistant. I loved the science of the work I did at the animal hospitals, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for in a career, so I enrolled in a course that…

Inka Johnson, ATI Industrial Automation bachelor’s degree from Duke University in Biomedical Engineering Although I work in the industrial robotics field now, I received my bachelor’s degree from Duke University in Biomedical Engineering. Biomedical and Automation sound unrelated, but the medical device and signal processing curriculum actually prepared me quite well for work in any…

Aemah Badri, Manufacturing Engineer, Fischer Connectors BS Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech. I was born and raised in Iraq, a village in northern Iraq, called Alqosh. I moved to the United States in September 2010 where I enrolled at Georgia Tech and earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. During my studies, I was involved in…

Megha Agrawal, Technical Project Manager, Red Lion Controls. MS in Computer Controls & Automation, Singapore BS in Electronics Instrumentation & Controls Engineering, India. Megha Agrawal is a Technical Project Manager at Red Lion Controls. She has a Master’s degree in Computer Controls & Automation from Singapore and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Instrumentation & Controls…

Cheryl Potter Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering (BSEE) degree from Marquette University M.B.A. from Bowling Green State University. Cheryl Potter has been a Value Stream Manager for Warner Electric, part of Altra Industrial Motion since 2015. While serving in this role, she had P&L responsibility for Warner’s linear actuator business along with moving it from…

When one thinks of fluid power research and university-level instruction, people often think of MSOE or Purdue here in the U.S. In Europe, a few key universities come to mind — RTWH Aachen University, Germany; Technical University Dresden; Aalto University, Finland; Tampere University, Finland; and Linköping University, Sweden. Being affiliated with one of these universities is…

Jennifer McConnell is a Product Manager with Protochips B.S. Chemistry and a  Masters in Forensic Chemistry. Protochips is a microscopy solutions provider that maximizes the electron microscope’s resolution capabilities to give scientists, engineers, and researchers the ability to perform dynamic quantitative nanoscale analysis. Here is what she shares with DW about she evolved her chemistry…

  Calista Redmond is the CEO of the RISC-V International, a global nonprofit association based in Switzerland. Founded in 2015 as the RISC-V International with 29 members, RISC-V is now a truly global organization with over 200 member organizations in more than 30 countries, plus over 300 individual members worldwide. Redmond has over 20 years…

Priya Rajendran is a software engineer and the CEO and cofounder of S’moresUp — an app to (among other things) establish routines and manage kids’ activities as well as handle family chores and allowances. The app uses behavioral and predictive analysis to help families run households together — and teach kids about financial management, self-discipline,…

Leanne Cushing is an accomplished engineer and inventor with more than 18 years of robotic systems experience — having designed systems for automotive, entertainment, automation, and consumer-electronics applications. Cushing also happens to be the captain of the BattleBots team Valkyrie. In a recent exchange, she shared with us her passion for and perspectives on mentoring…

Obianuju Okafor is a software engineer and researcher who designs and implements mobile and web applications in various languages with expertise in UX research, machine learning, and data analytics. Read more about her work in human-computer interactions and software engineering for accessibility at obianujuokafor.github.io. Okafor also happens to be a computer science PhD Candidate at…

NASA has assigned astronaut Jeanette Epps to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission, the first operational crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Epps will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition planned for a launch in 2021 to the orbiting space laboratory.…

Ultimation Industries  announced today that the company was selected as the newest member of Rolling On Interroll (ROI), a unique partnership with global material handler Interroll. Ultimation is a woman-owned leader in the conveyor technology and automation industry and has been designing, manufacturing and installing machinery and equipment, automation devices, tire and wheel processing lines…

Mireya Spears is a product marketing specialist at Emerson. Spears has an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the National University of Piura in Peru. When asked about her experiences in engineering, here’s what she had to say. What about your company’s culture makes it supportive of women? I’ve always felt that…

While this is an opinion column, I generally stay away from things of a political nature. Instead, here I mostly focus on engineering, manufacturing and management topics. But the social upheaval and protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd have surely caused many of us to think about these issues in our…