I grew up on a farm in mid-Missouri. I loved being outside and helping my dad fix equipment but I also loved baking and creating new recipes. When I took a chemistry class, I really enjoyed learning about what makes up all the different materials in the world–it was like making recipes to create new things. I combined my love of chemistry and math as a chemical engineer. Now I get to enjoy putting materials together in new ways to create new products at Gates.

What inspired you to explore STEM when you were young?

My father was an engineer and so I aspired to follow in his footsteps. I also always enjoyed logic puzzles growing up and math and science were some of my favorite classes.

What do you enjoy most about what you do in your STEM career?

I enjoy the challenge of my career. It is fun to be able to be to dream up ways to improve Gates products or envision new products to address a need in the market. Being in materials development, I am able to support a lot of different product projects and I really enjoy having this variety in my projects.

What is a fun, bizarre or insightful STEM fact about your field?

Only 28% of engineers are women globally: 20.4% in the US, 48.5% in Algeria. Also Hedy Lamarr, a famous 1930s movie actress, made significant engineering contributions to today’s wireless networks.