Suzelle Barrington, Ph.D., P.E.
Engineering is a career that became attractive
to me during my first year at university
because I loved mathematics and sciences but
did not know what useful job I could do with
them. While mathematics and sciences could
get me into some very specific jobs, I wanted
something challenging that would let me out
of the office once in a while. I was never an office person.
After looking into engineering, I realized that I could meet
my career aspirations, do something interesting with my
life, contribute to society by introducing simpler ways of
doing things, and enjoy the outdoors at the same time.
I started my career as an employee of the Quebec
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, solving drainage,
construction, and ventilation problems for rural clients. After
working for seven years, I decided to go back to university to
complete a Master’s degree while keeping my full-time job.
Four years later, I had skipped the Master’s thesis and was
being awarded a Ph.D. degree. A Ph.D. degree changes one’s
life, because all employers have the impression that you need
a highly scientific job. And so, a university teaching and posi-
tion came to be my final career choice.
After more than 30 years of practice, for me, engi-
neering is all about letting your imagination run wild. Engi-
neers are problem solvers who rely on their imagination to
come up with innovative technologies that will make life
more enjoyable for everyone. Furthermore, this problem
solving process requires getting out of the office regularly
for site visits, having frequent conversations with clients,
conducting field inspections and managing projects. This,
to me, is the best part of engineering — dream all day and
get time out of the office regularly to enjoy the outdoors.
What I also like about modern engineering practices is
that solutions must now integrate some social aspects. If a
solution requires too many changes in someone’s life or too
much work, it will not be adopted. For example, I worked
with a small community in the heart of Montreal a few years
ago to introduce a composting center. We made this center
easily visible and accessible to all members of the commu-
nity: they could drop off their food waste on the way to work
three mornings per week, and being visible, the center drew
customers in no time. The project worked where many had
failed before, because we made it easy! No one had to walk
a distance out of their way to drop off their food waste!Every year as a university professor, I meet a large number
of people registered in applied sciences, and many of these are
young women who often tell me they are afraid of engineering
as a career because they have to be wizards in mathematics,
physics, chemistry and /or biology. As a result, I have become
involved with organizations promoting engineering to young
women. Only 20 percent of engineers in North America are
women, and an even smaller number are given top management
positions. Why? Because many notions still persist within soci-
ety about the profession of engineering being very masculine
and competitive. Today, this is no longer true. Engineers must
be good communicators and must work in teams to succeed.
So why not become an engineer? Environmental
engineering has been my field of expertise for the past
20 years. It allows me to integrate all of the sciences and
to come up with solutions to problems concerning our
changing environment.
Try these exercises to get a feel for environmental
engineering:- You are given the job to design an anaerobic digester
to treat the food waste of a large city. The first thing
you must do is measure the amount of food waste that
will be produced by the population. You and your
friends can collect, for one week, all the food waste
produced in your individual kitchens. At the end of
the week, weigh how much food waste each one of
your household has produced. Put this food waste into
a container of known size and then measure its density.
Can you extrapolate these production results into one
year’s production? Do you think if you repeat this
measurement during the other seasons of the year the
amount of food waste produced would change? - Soil is an interesting medium for cleaning up or
filtering dirty water (wastewaters). Take a regular
household pot and fill it with potting medium. Place
a bowl under the pot to collect water. Then, take
some clean water and add something else to it, such
as tomato juice; mix one part of tomato juice to 4 to
5 parts of water. Pour half of this mixture over the
potting medium and collect the liquid seeping
under. Compare the color and turbidity of the both
the original mixture and its seepage. How can this
potting medium filter and clean the tomato juice?
Professional Profile
38
Source:Courtesy of Suzelle Thauvette Barrington
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