BROADCASTS.com

In addition to being an electrical engineer, Katherine volunteers and leads a myriad of organizations supporting and promoting women in engineering. Katherine shares her educational experience in a project engineering collegiate program and the benefits and experiences she gained in the process and how she got involved in many of her volunteer programs.

Episode Notes

Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio

Acronyms and Definitions

SCADA and Control Engineer–Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) – develop, deploy and maintain SCADA systems and control processes.

Integrated Distribution Plan-A plan for the future of a distribution grid using inputs supplied by the electric utility, the commission and interested stakeholders. 

Energy Control Center–The decision-center for the electric transmission and generation interconnected system. The ECC provides the functions necessary for monitoring physical and economic operation of the power system. 

Energy Management System–a system of computer-aided tools used to monitor, control, and optimize the performance of the generation or transmission system.

Relay Engineer–Plans layout and oversees maintenance of protection equipment of an electric power distribution system to minimize interruption to service and danger to lives and equipment from abnormalities.

FERC–Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

NERC–North American Electric Reliability Corporation

Iron Range–refers to a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada.

Iron Range Engineering – Iron Range Engineering is a project based 4 year degree program accredited through Minnesota State University, Mankato and located in Virginia, Minnesota.

Iron Range Engineering Bell Program – The Bell Program is an upper division engineering program for students seeking a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree. The program is 2.5 years in duration. The first half-year is on-site at Iron Range Engineering in northeastern Minnesota where students will complete the Bell Academy. The following two years are spent working as co-ops at companies anywhere in the world. 

UMD – University of Minnesota Duluth

Fluid Mechanics – the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids and the forces on them.

ABET Accredited Program  – Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology – Assurance that a college or university program meets the quality standards established by the profession for which it prepares its students.

Hydrology –The branch of science concerned with the properties of the earth’s water, and especially its movement in relation to land.

Protective Relaying–a relay device designed to trip a circuit breaker when a fault is detected. 

Fact Check
Project-based learning is an instructional method in which students learn a range of skills and subject matter in the process of creating their own projects.

Joan C. Williams is an American feminist legal scholar whose work focuses on issues faced by women in the workplace. 

This is a video series Ms. Willams did on gender bias. https://leanin.org/education/introduction-to-what-works-for-women-at-work