Professional Physicists - Engineering

Engineers design, analyse, and/or construct works for practical purposes.

Job title:
Project Engineer

Educational background:
Ph.D. in Physics

What do you do?
I participate in the ATLAS detector construction, collaborating with the ATLAS Magnets project team as a Project Engineer.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
Because this was what I had learned to do during graduation and Ph.D.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
It was essential, even if I didn't pursue in the same domain and rather left fundamental research for applied physics. I have a higher flexibility than fellow engineers, being able to touch to all domains which occur in applied physics.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
Without having chosen it, I had my two children relatively late. I work now on a part time basis (80%), with some difficulties in having my male colleagues accepting it and, for example, rescheduling meetings accordingly.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Believe in one's possibilities, and especially in the capability of self-organization and taking up challenges. Refrain from thinking of family and career commitments as competing, and just leading them in parallel.

Job title:
Launch Vehicle Integration Engineer

Educational background:
B.S. Physics
B.A. German

What do you do?
I am on a large team that manages the systems engineering and integration (SE&I) of the technical discipline analyses and tasks (such as loads analysis, aero-thermal, acoustics, aerodynamics, database development, CAD drawings, etc.) that are being done to design the Ares-1 launch vehicle. This will expand to include management of manufacturing elements, test and verification programs and flight support as the program matures. We are also initiating a similar design effort on the much larger Ares-V launch vehicle. These two vehicles are being built both to supply International Space Station as well as to send crewed sorties to the Moon. The Crew Exploration Vehicle Orion is managed out of Johnson Space Center and it is a major critical effort to integrate Orion and Ares-1 systems. The first Ares-1 booster test launch will occur in 2009. The first integrated Ares-1-Orion vehicle launch will occur in 2012.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related education?
It seemed more fun than straight engineering and required a lot less memorization than biological or chemical disciplines.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
Physics enables you to branch off into many other disciplines. The basic laws of physics apply in all technological areas.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
If married, balancing professional careers is the most challenging thing for husband and physicist wife. If you are a waitress, you can get a job wherever your husband moves. This is not true if you are a physicist. In marriage, be sure to work out understandings of whose career follows whose.

Assuming the physicist mom has a stable job, she will find plenty of support for having kids in the way of daycares and after-school care. Childcare is generally not a problem. As far as balancing personal and professional life, it is important to remember that your family, husband and kids are the most important things in life, Jobs come and go. Kids grow up amazingly fast. Spend appropriate quality time with them. (And don't fall into the guilt trap of over-scheduling yourself and your kids. Your kids will survive quite well if they only have one or two extracurricular activities a month. There is only one you and you can only be in one place at a time.)

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Take a strong physics curriculum but augment it with a BSME if you want to earn more salary right out of school.

Job title:
Principal Software Engineer

Educational background:
Bachelor's in Physics
Ph.D. in Marine Geophysics

What do you do?
Commercial software development (aimed at engineers and scientists).

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
I like the math and the problem solving.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
It has been very helpful for problem solving, looking at the broadest picture and incorporating that information together.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Physics is the basis for understanding much of the world. If you can allow yourself to move from the theoretical to the "practical," your career options are wide open, since the problem solving skills and math are the basis for much interesting work.

Job title:
Physicist, but official title on paper is Systems Engineer

Educational background:
M.S. in Physics
B.S. in Physics and Mathematics

What do you do?
Since 1993 I worked on the testing of spacecraft debris shielding and was lead in this area for the last several years. I recently have moved to a new area and am working on NASA's new vehicle's launch abort system in a test and verification role.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
I once had a boss that told me to go into engineering because it was easier than physics, so I went into physics. Anything worth having is worth working for.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
It has helped me see the world (on a large scale and very small scale) in a whole different way, a way that has changed my perception for the good. Also, I can pick up on helping others understand concepts where engineering stops.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
I am a single mom and have been for the last several years of my career. Advancing in my career and in my education, I feel, was one reason that I am divorced - but that is not my fault. I have a special struggle in my parent role now. And with my job come late nights and sometimes a lot of traveling. I do my best to be with my two boys as much as I can, and I always try to make the time I am with them quality time so that they will know how much they are loved. I work hard, not only for me, but for them - and then I play hard with them. You come to realize that every moment counts and they all can be special and build lasting memories.

Do you have any dvice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Ladies, it isn't easy. But if it were, everyone would do it, and how boring would that be?! No matter how much people around you may say you can't, use that as motivation to show them you can!

Job title:
Systems Engineer

Educational background:
B.A. Physics

What do you do?
I analyze the performance of large, complex systems and deduce patterns that may indicate unexpected problems or untapped capability. A lot of my time is spent communicating my findings to higher-ups and decision-makers, so I end up making the complex simple to understand. Well, as simple as possible, anyway.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
I started off wanting to go the full Ph.D. route in physics with the ultimate goal of being an astronaut - physics is the number one major of civilian astronauts. I ended up "only" getting a bachelor's degree because I wanted a more balanced life and industry offered me that.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
For one thing, few other fields carry as much prestige. Even engineering doesn't carry quite the weight of physics. So when I'm the young female in a room full of graybeards, I have automatic credibility. For another, physics is an extremely fundamental way of looking at the world, which helps in every analysis problem I tackle. And finally, I use the knowledge gained from my college years in the work itself.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
By prioritizing. Sometimes family comes first, and sometimes work comes first. But honestly, working in industry is helping with that. My company recognizes the value in recruiting and retaining women, and works actively to help us achieve that balance. Consequently, men in the company are spending more time with family as well, and the entire culture is changing. Don't be afraid that you will have to choose between family and career - it's a false dichotomy

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Network. Network with friends, family, at church, through online networking sites. You are not the first to face the hurdles you face, and you are already qualified to help others face theirs. Networking is the number one way to find your career and finds a position, and it is the number one way to improve your career and your overall quality of life.

Job title:
Senior Engineer

Educational background:
B.S. Astronomy & Physics

What do you do?
Currently, I study rocket noise for the NASA Constellation Program. During my 15-year career in aerospace, I've studied diamagnetism in the microgravity environment, low vibration, and high sound pressure levels. I've launched experiments in sounding rockets, flew on the NASA microgravity research planes (commonly referred to as the "Vomit Comet"), tested International Space Station modules (both in the U.S. and in Italy & Germany), and taken sound data during static motor firings and during rocket launches. I have two patents and several conference technical papers.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
Originally, I tacked on the physics major to support the astronomy major so I could get into graduate school. But, during the undergrad years, I had to face the reality that I wasn't so keen about astronomy or my astronomy professors but I really, really liked my physics classmates and my physics professors.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
Flexibility. The great thing about the physics undergrad course work is that you are exposed intensely to many different subjects.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
I do believe, after my own experiences, that unless you want an academic career, it is a good idea for women physics majors to delay graduate school and go into the work place. Graduate school is a grind - long hours, low pay and a huge time commitment (~7 years). Then, it's necessary to post-doc. Once, maybe twice. At the end of this feat, you may or may not be on a tenured-track route. During this time, it's low salary and minimal benefits for medical and retirement. I just don't think it's a good deal for women. There's nothing to preclude a woman from finishing her graduate work after her child-bearing years (if she desires to have children).

I think the aerospace industry is a great place for women with a B.S. in physics. The work is interesting, the pay is good and there are excellent retirement and medical benefits. There's opportunities to have your continuing education paid for by the employer. I think the labor regulations (Family Medical Leave Act, short-term disability insurance, etc.) help women have a family and a career. There are always times when the job has to come first. And, likewise, there are times when the family comes first. So, I don't think there's a balance. There just needs to be the ability to change the number one priority.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Take as many of the physics classes as you can. Even the ones that everyone hates or the professor is tough. Visit all the laboratories in your physics department. Get a low-level research job. Take advantage of the physics professional societies and the cheap student rates (excellent Christmas/birthday presents). After doing all this, figure out who you liked to work with and what you liked working on and then do that. That way, you'll be happy.