International Women in Engineering Day is celebrated June 23 every year to recognize women engineers who are transforming the industry. This day helps bring awareness to many fulfilling career opportunities that are accessible to girls in a primarily male dominated field. This year, Women in Engineering Day also falls on our annual Take Your Dog to Work Day. So, to celebrate both, we’re featuring our accomplished women engineers who also happen to be awesome dog moms!
Meet Maya McCann, a project engineer on our Richmond urban planning team, and her pups Fozzie and Yogi!
“I chose civil engineering [as a career] because it felt the most impactful towards peoples’ everyday lives. No matter what discipline of civil engineering I focused in, the types of projects I would work on would make some sort of improvement to the environment around it,” Maya said.
“I like that in this industry when a project is finished, I can walk down the street and see the end result in person. Working in the urban group, part of our goal with each project is to improve the surrounding streetscape, ensure it’s accessible, and make sure the building is operable,” Maya continued. “I like that the projects I work on are improving the city that I live in.”
Meet Richmond stormwater project engineer, Jessica Slagle, and her furry friend Bella!
“My favorite part of what I do is the variety of work and the chance to always learn something new. Each project will be different in one way or another, and you have to use engineering judgement and problem solving to find the best solution. I enjoy the mixture of field work and office work, as well as the opportunity to shift between all the services stormwater offers,” Jessica said.
When asked what advice she would give young women pursuing engineering, Jessica said “Don’t be discouraged by the number of men in engineering or the difficultly of the program. Believe in your abilities, you belong as much as anyone else. Don’t be afraid to stand out, learn as much as possible, and make lots of connections.”
Here’s Maegan Martin, a land development project engineer based in our Greensboro office, posing for a family photo with her three pups, Tiny, Sophie, and Rodney.
Currently, Maegan and her team are working on Carrollwood Farms, a large event center designed for wedding venues that will include an 81,000 SF Equestrian Center. “My favorite part of what I do is watching what’s on a piece paper come to life,” Maegan said.
Kaitlyn Barger, a project engineer on our Charlottesville land development team, and her furry friend Jasper (but more lovingly referred to as Jaspy) pose for a photo in the snow.
Kaitlyn says one of her favorite things about being a project engineer is the diversity of projects that she gets to work on. “No one project is the same as another, and it provides constant opportunities to grow and learn,” she said.
“My favorite CAD trick is the TGD (TGDEMO) command, instead of going to the TGTOOL palette to put things on Demo layer. I accidentally discovered it when I typed TGD instead of TGS. My mind was blown!” Kaitlyn said.
Laura Hamilton, Simone Stein, and Danielle Soriano Brown are engineers in our infrastructure division. Laura, who’s a project engineer on our water and wastewater team, is standing on the far left with her pooch Kai in the photo above!
Laura said growing up her role model was her mother who’s also an engineer. “Women often stand out in the engineering field since it’s a male dominated career but don’t let that deter you — embrace it. Stand out and become a role model for another young female engineer.”
Say hi to Brittney and her four-legged friend, Rosie! Brittney is a project manager on our Raleigh transportation team.
“I love getting to work with others as we find solutions to reach the goals of our clients and the communities around us,” Brittney said. “I also love looking around the room, realizing that I am one of the few women, and sometimes the only woman in the room/meeting, knowing I am giving inspiration and helping pave the way for younger female engineers.”
Brittney says she grew up surrounded by male civil engineers and found inspiration in a self-made role model. “I created my own imaginary role model. The more I grew personally, the bigger the dreams got, and the harder I worked,” she said.
Jessica Johnson, an electrical engineer in our Charlotte office, poses for a beach pic with her best friend, Wylie.
“As an electrical engineer, most of our projects occur within a 1–4 week timeframe, but we just had a very large project with that lasted approximately four months. We are helping the client prepare currently active projects in Virginia ahead of the study process,” Jessica said.
When asked what advice she would give to young women considering engineering as a career, Jessica said, “I think any young woman interested in math and science should consider engineering as a career choice. Even though it has historically been a male-dominated field, the tides are slowly shifting to even out. It is great to see so many female engineers being hired by Timmons!”
Meet Allison Stone, a project engineer on our Raleigh residential team, and her canine companion, Josie.
“My favorite part of the job is grading design. It’s like a puzzle and once you put together all the pieces, you get to see the land transform into what you’ve created,” Allison said.
Allison talks about how growing up she found her mother to be a big inspiration, saying, “Both my parents are electrical engineers, but seeing my mother as an equal to her male-counterparts encouraged me to do the same.”
Charlyn Castillo, a project engineer on our Hampton Roads land development team, dressed her pup Newton up like a cowboy for this photo!
Charlyn and her team are currently working on a residential subdivision design in Chesapeake. She offers advice to fellow female engineers, “Take the time to build connections with women in the office and create a support group. And don’t shy away from sharing your experience with men! They are also interested to be informed and hear any ideas on how to support women in engineering.”
June 23 sure makes for an amazing day each year when we have a dedicated moment to celebrate our women engineers, but this year it proved to be a particularly special day as we got to celebrate their pups too! Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to watch our Instagram stories for exciting updates throughout this year’s Take Your Dog to Work Day!
