 Rebecca
Steinman
Senior Engineer
Advent Engineering Services, Inc.
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 BSNE,
University of Missouri - Rolla
MEng,
University of Michigan
MSNE,
University of Michigan
PhD
NE, University of Michigan |
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Steinman works as a
consultant; her firm uses specialized engineering knowledge to
solve problems, often in a staff augmentation role, for clients. |
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A nuclear engineering degree today is quite different from what
it was in the 1960s and 70s. Back then nuclear engineering was
primarily power engineering, but today nuclear engineering is
everything from medical physics to homeland security to power
production. |
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School prepares you to solve problems, but
usually, these problems are "well defined." When you get into
your first job, very little of your work will be as "well
defined" as the problems in school were. You might feel a little
lost at first. Don't be afraid to ask for help defining the
problem, because once it is defined, you'll have the skill set
you need to solve it.
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Q:
When did you know you wanted to become a Nuclear Engineer?
Steinman:
My junior year in high school I attended the
Jackling Institute at the University of Missouri – Rolla (UMR) and got
to spend a day in the research reactor. I was hooked from the first time
I got to sit in the reactor operator's chair.
Q:
What was your college experience like?
Steinman:
I went to a small school that at the time had a
4-1 male-female ratio. It took a semester or two to get used to being
the only female student in class most of the time, but once I got used
to that, college was great! I made several life-long friends.
My freshman and junior years were the most difficult. The freshman year
was hard trying to figure out how to balance school, new friends,
homework, and extra-curricular activities while still trying to get an
hour or two of sleep during the week nights. My junior year was hard
because that is when all of the hard-core engineering classes ended up
lumped together. There were 18 NE students and we all attended class
together, studied together, and relaxed at the town bar together on
Thursday nights. When it was all said and done I would not have given up
any of my college experiences.
Q:
Did you co-op while you were an undergrad?
Steinman:
No, but I had a summer internship at Argonne
National Laboratory and worked on campus as a health physics technician
for three years.
Q:
How did you get your first job?
Steinman:
A friend from graduate school recommended me as
her replacement when she relocated when her husband finished graduate
school. During my interview the owners of the company told me that they
had seen my presentation at the 1998 Student ANS meeting and at the MI-ANS
Student presentations meetings in 1999 and 2000. These presentations
heavily influenced their decision to make me an offer for permanent
employment.
Q:
What's the most rewarding thing about being a Nuclear Engineer?
Steinman:
I love what I do; the tasks and challenges are
always changing and evolving, which keeps the job exciting. Every day I
have the opportunity to learn something new.
Q:
Do you spend a fair amount of time traveling?
Steinman:
On average, I spend 1-2 days a week out of the
office, but about 80% of my travel is within driving distance, so I am
typically home every night. However, we are consultants and we need to
go where the work is, so there have been 6 month periods where I travel
overnight a lot more often.
Q:
Do you have a mentor? Or did you in your college years?
Steinman:
During graduate school, Ruth Weiner of Sandia
National Laboratories serviced as my mentor. She was the outside member
of my doctoral dissertation committee, took the time to introduce me to
colleagues at ANS national meetings, and regularly provided advice on a
variety of personal and profession topics. These days I try to return
the favor by participating as a mentor at ANS meetings.
Q:
Do you find yourself working more in a team situation, or more alone?
Steinman:
This really depends upon the size of the project.
The last two large projects we have worked on, I acted as Project
Manager, so these projects were definitely more team oriented; however,
I usually get at least 1 project a year that I do all by myself.
Q:
Do you find you are able to balance work with social/family life while
working in your current job?
Steinman:
I work for a small close-knit company. Since most
of my family lives elsewhere in the US, my husband and I tend to
socialize with co-workers. However, I rarely feel like my job is
intruding into my personal life.
Q:
If you had to do it all over again, would you still become a Nuclear
Engineer?
Steinman:
Absolutely! I love working in the Nuclear
Industry. I take every opportunity I get to talk to local high school
students about the variety of working in this field.
Q:
Did you think that school prepared you for the way the work gets done in
the real world?
Steinman:
School teaches you how to solve problems given a
specific set of input parameters. In the real world, you have to find
and decide upon the appropriate input parameters. I did not feel like
school prepared me for making those decisions, but I was able to learn
how to decide fairly quickly on the job because I at least knew how to
solve the problem once I adequately defined the problem.
My undergraduate preparation was a lot more like what I do for a living
than my time in graduate school, but this was not unexpected since I did
not go into academia or research following graduate school. However,
there was a substantial learning curve once I got into the working
world.
Q:
Where do you see jobs for Nuclear Engineers in the future? What should
students be doing to prepare themselves to take on those roles?
Steinman:
A nuclear engineering degree today is quite
different from what it was in the 1960s and 70s. Back then nuclear
engineering was primarily power engineering, but today nuclear
engineering is everything from medical physics to homeland security to
power production. In many cases, a nuclear engineering degree is more
nuclear science than engineering. If we hope to build new nuclear power
in this country, students interested in nuclear power need to learn as
much as the possibly can from the engineers that built the currently
operating plants. Otherwise, we will have to get all of the engineering
from overseas.
Q:
What other advice do you have for students?
Steinman:
School prepares you to solve problems, but
usually, these problems are "well defined." When you get into your first
job, very little of your work will be as "well defined" as the problems
in school were. You might feel a little lost at first. Don't be afraid
to ask for help defining the problem, because once it is defined, you'll
have the skill set you need to solve it.
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