world? "Well, I wasn't in love with it." She explains (Referring to engineering). "But I had to get out and experience the rest of the world, and I was really good at math and geography. So when I got to the Coast Guard Academy, one of my counselors said to me, "You're so good in math... why don't you consider Civil Engineering?" So I thought about it, and that's what I did. Now the rest is history!" She chuckles humbly and smiles.
Her first big break came in her second to last year of studying for her PhD when she got a phone call from one of her former advisors at the Coast Guard Academy. He told her that there had been some changes in the Engineering Department and wanted to know when she was graduating as they were looking for some new professors. She informed him that she had about a year left until she finished the program, and then asked him why he had called her. To her surprise, he told her that he remembered her energy, spirit, and positive effect on people while she was at the Coast Guard Academy and wanted to recommend her for one of the teaching positions as soon as she finished with her PhD. (At the time, she had been earning about $900 a (Continued)
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