26 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

IISE’s female leaders, honorees represent rising inﬂuence in education, industry

WOMEN OF ISE:

Breaking barriers, solving problems

An award-winning student video sums up the role

of women in industrial and systems engineering this

way: “Women are natural problem-solvers, innova-

tive thinkers and dedicated professionals.”

The effort from students at the University of Mi-

ami won the top prize in the annual IISE Student

Chapters 2020 Industry Advisory Board (IAB) YouTube Video

Contest sponsored by Tompkins International (see story on

Page 60). Its acknowledgement of women in ISE is timely: In-

ternational Women in Engineering Day is June 23, an annual

celebration to mark the accomplishments and advancement of

women in engineering ﬁelds around the world.

The inﬂuence of women in ISE ﬁelds began with Lillian

Moller Gilbreth, one of the founding pioneers of industrial engi-

neering, who served as a partner to her husband, Frank, in early

efforts to document and improve work processes. As detailed in

a biographical proﬁle by Jill S. Tietjen in Women in Industrial and

Systems Engineering by Alice E. Smith, Lillian Gilbreth applied

social sciences and human factors to her husband’s work-study

research and was responsible for such innovations as career in-

terest tests, a refrigerator’s butter dish, egg tray and vegetable

and meat drawers, the pump and return water hose on washing

machines, the foot pedal trash can, the design of the kitchen

triangle and accommodations for those who are disabled.

The oldest of nine children, Gilbreth applied those same ideals

and the “One Best Way” of doing things in her own household

of 12 children, as detailed in the book and movie Cheaper by the

Dozen, while serving as an adviser and editor of her husband’s

writings and speeches.

Gilbreth’s efforts and those who followed have gradually

borne fruit. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2018 data

ranked industrial engineering third on its list of the top 10 fastest

growing jobs for women, with an 82% increase in the number

of women in IE positions over a ﬁve-year span. Of the bureau’s

top 25 fastest growing jobs for women, seven fell under the

categories of science, technology, engineering and mathemat-

ics (STEM) ﬁelds that were once predominantly male. Each of

these jobs saw more than a 30% increase in women employed

from 2014 to 2018.

That trend is reﬂected in IISE’s membership and leaders. Sev-

eral women ﬁll key roles on the Board of Trustees and in societ-

ies, divisions and chapters, including Immediate Past President

Jamie Rogers, Senior Vice President-at-Large Academic Janis

Terpenny, Senior Vice President International Operations Gül

Kremer and IAB Representative Renee Thiesing.

Several top honorees at the IISE Annual Conference & Expo

2019 reﬂected the accomplishments of women in the Institute.

The Fellow awards marked a milestone as three of the recipi-

ents – Harriet Nembhard, Pamela McCauley and Tonya Smith-

Jackson – shared distinction as the ﬁrst female African-Ameri-

cans to receive the honor in the award’s 69-year history

“When Pamela, Harriet, Tonya and I were making photos

during the dessert reception, a few things immediately came to

our minds as the photographer waited patiently: It’s about time!

 Attendees take part in a

student panel on diversity

and inclusion at the IISE

Annual Conference &

Expo 2019.

Photos by David Brandt | IISE

A presenter 

explains her poster

to attendees at the 2019

IISE Annual Conference in

Orlando, Florida.

 Attendees take part in a net-

working reception during the

IISE Healthcare Systems

Process Improvement

Conference.



From left, Tonya

Smith-Jackson, Harriet

Nembhard and Pamela

McCauley became IISE’s

ﬁrst female African-American

Fellows in 2019.

Attendees join 

the discussion at the

2020 IISE Healthcare

Systems Process Improve-

ment Conference Feb. 26-28.

Celebrating women in engineering

To mark International Women in Engineering Day on June 23,

ISE asked several women in industrial and systems engineering

from different ﬁelds and walks of life to share their experiences

and views in this issue. Their career paths tell of their successes,

obstacles they have overcome and that remain and how to help

attract more young women into STEM and ISE educations and

the careers that lie beyond. To learn more about Women in

Engineering Day, visit www.inwed.org.uk.

June 2020 | ISE Magazine 27

Long overdue!” said Rogers, herself an IISE Fellow.

“I would encourage everyone to review the IISE Diversity,

Equity, and Inclusion Statement and Core Commitments on

our website and join me in congratulating Dr. Tonya Smith-

Jackson as the Inaugural Chair of the DE&I Committee report-

ing to the Board of Trustees,” Rogers added.

McCauley reﬂected on the role of women in a “What’s Your

Story?” proﬁle in the December 2019 issue of ISE (link.iise.org/

isedecember2020_mccauley).

“More women can be attracted to entering STEM professions

if we will share with them the amazing career opportunities and

signiﬁcant impact they can have as technical leaders,” she said.

“It’s equally important to create work environments that are

inclusive and create opportunities that embrace diverse STEM

professionals. These environments will become the ‘calling

card’ for recruiting and retaining more women into STEM ca-

reers. My advice to these women is to strongly consider a STEM

profession, particularly industrial engineering. It is a ﬁeld that is

growing and there are many opportunities to utilize your love

for science and math by creating prod-

ucts or services or improving existing

systems ultimately to improve and en-

hance the daily lives of people.”

The 2019 Captains of Industry Awards

at the IISE Annual Conference went to

two of the event’s keynote speakers: Syl-

via Acevedo, CEO of the Girl Scouts of

the USA, and Stayce Harris, retired U.S.

Air Force lieutenant general and inspec-

tor general.

“We need the whole of our population to develop and dis-

cover the technological solutions for our future, so we need the

50% of our population that is female to be an integral part of the

solution,” Harris said in a proﬁle in the March ISE (link.iise.org/

isemarch2020_harris).

Harris, an IISE member, noted in her keynote speech (link.iise.

org/annual2019_harris) that she had to overcome various obsta-

cles in her Air Force career, particularly that female pilots were

not allowed in combat, a restriction since lifted. She instead be-

came a transport pilot carrying cargo and personnel and used

her IE background to improve processes.

“Throughout my career, I described myself as an industrial

and systems engineer by degree, a pilot by profession,” she said.

“The application of its principles are with me every single day.”

Acevedo noted in her speech and in a video interview with

ISE (link.iise.org/Annual2019Acevedo) that the Girl Scouts have

put a fresh emphasis on science, technology, engineering and

math education by offering 100 new merit badges in STEM and

an additional six space studies badges.

“Being an IE was the ‘X’ factor in my career,” she said in her

keynote address. “At every pivot point in my career, it allowed

me to overcome cultural biases.”

Most agree efforts to steer more women into engineering

ﬁelds begins in early education. U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of

Pennsylvania is an industrial engineer by trade and told of efforts

to generate more opportunities for women in STEM ﬁelds at

the federal level in an April ISE proﬁle (link.iise.org/april2020_

houlahan; see related story on Page 30).

“I’m very passionate about women and girls in STEM and

STEAM and underserved populations, which I consider wom-

en and girls to be part of, and making them have access to these

really important career ﬁelds,” she told ISE.

Smith, in a proﬁle on Page 64 of this issue, echoed the idea of

starting women early in ISE ﬁelds.

“Engineering is the last profession to be strongly male-dom-

inated,” she said. “I think we need to encourage all younger

women and girls to consider STEM and not be intimidated.

They do not have to be math wizards or science geeks to excel

at engineering and enjoy it as a career.”

Even with the progress that women have made in STEM

ﬁelds, most agree it is merely the ﬁrst step toward greater ad-

vancements in engineering ﬁelds.

“There are a lot of many strong wom-

en who paved the way for me, and I am

grateful for those women,” said Nata-

lie Scala, an IISE member and Towson

University professor whose research is

featured in a recent episode of Problem

Solved: The IISE Podcast at link.iise.org/

problemsolved_ep20. “I think every grad

student has a certain amount of adver-

sity they have to overcome, and some-

times there are going to be people in your career, whether gen-

der-based or not, who are going to hold you back for whatever

reason. We have to remember as women – and men, too – we

deserve to be here and we deserve to have that equal shot.”

“As a professional, there are still relatively few women and

particularly women of color in the ﬁeld of engineering,”

McCauley said. “That has meant many times I have to be cre-

ative about how I approach situations and I’m often the ﬁrst

woman of color many people have worked with. As a result, I

feel a responsibility, and this has led me to focus on always doing

excellent work, being extremely prepared and always desiring

to set a good example for other women and people of color who

may come behind me.”

“Although it is often a challenge to balance all activities, the

investment and personal commitment to service is critical in

today’s world,” Rogers said. “The famous quotation from John

F. Kennedy, ‘one person can make a difference and everyone

should try’ is certainly timeless. The folks featured in this is-

sue have all achieved success through help from others. I am

conﬁdent that they will assist the next generation and continue

to work to celebrate the diversity of all participants in the ISE

profession worldwide.” 

Photos by David Brandt | IISE

Sylvia Acevedo (photo at left) and Stayce

Harris, both keynote speakers at the IISE

Annual Conference & Expo 2019, received the

Captains of Industry awards from then IISE

President-elect David Poirier.

28 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

women of ISE

Increase diversity through collaboration

with women’s STEM groups

Professional organizations guide young women toward engineering careers

By Diana Berry

In the 1960s, Katherine Johnson calculated trajectories

for multiple NASA space missions. On Dec. 9, 2019, she

received the Medal of Honor awarded by Congress in

recognition of her signiﬁcant contributions to the U.S

space program. Johnson, who was portrayed in the 2016

biographical drama ﬁlm Hidden Figures, died Feb. 24,

2020. She is remembered as a trailblazer whose legacy among

female engineers is unprecedented.

Dr. Lillian Moller Gilbreth was known as the ﬁrst lady of

engineering. She is one of the founders of the ﬁeld of indus-

trial engineering, who together with her husband Frank pio-

neered the ﬁeld of industrial management. The Institute of

Industrial and Systems Engineers recognized Lillian Gilbreth

for her outstanding contributions, creating an award in the

Gilbreths’ name in 1962. She was the ﬁrst honorary member

of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and a huge sup-

porter of the organization in its early years.

According to statistics by the SWE (see Figure 1), women

have increased their numbers in many professions previously

dominated by men, including law, business, medicine and

other STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)

ﬁelds in the U.S. However, the number of women in engi-

neering in the U.S. has not increased since the early 2000s.

Statistics also show the number of women who are still

working in engineering after 30 years is low, citing corporate

culture as the main reason women leave engineering.

Thankfully, organizations such as SWE recognized this is-

sue early and took responsibility for increasing the numbers.

SWE continues to empower women to achieve full potential

in careers as engineers as well as leaders while expanding the

image of the engineering and technology professions.

SWE was founded in 1950 and it currently has more than

40,000 members. It offers a wide variety of activities to fulﬁll

its mission, such as local and national conferences, awards,

scholarships, outreach programs for the youth and opportu-

nities to engage and develop leadership at different levels.

I currently serve as SWE president for the Central Savan-

nah River section. During my years of service, I have had

the opportunity to judge and provide scholarships for high

school girls interested in pursuing technical degrees. When

reading these young and accomplished ladies’ applications,

I feel inspired. The girls show strong interest in different

engineering disciplines such as mechanical, industrial and

biomedical engineering, among others. Some of the inspi-

rational stories they present on their scholarships applications

are born out of their personal hardships.

Every March, our local SWE section hosts one of our most

popular events, Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. Our ex-

ecutive team invites high schoolers in the area and requests

the teacher’s selection of girls interested in math and science

who are currently performing well in math and science. Our

section gathers a group of at least 60 girls to enjoy the day of

STEM-related activities. Middle and high schoolers have the

chance to interact with other female engineers who act as role

models, ask questions and clarify what the different engineer-

ing disciplines are. Part of the day’s agenda includes a panel

with at least ﬁve female engineers working in different disci-

plines (industrial, mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical engi-

neering). The girls have a chance to ask questions and gather

information that will help them decide their future careers.

Diana Berry, an IISE vice president for technical operations,

serves as president of the Central Savannah River district of the

Society of Women Engineers and attended the SWE convention

earlier in 2020.

Photos courtesy of Diana Berry

June 2020 | ISE Magazine 29

Some of the comments we have received at the end of the

engineering day is that these young ladies don’t realize how

having a degree in engineering is so versatile. The girls enjoy

building things and having the opportunity to make a differ-

ence in other people’s lives. As part of the activities, we show

a movie where the girls watch an example of a civil engineer

helping to build a bridge in a small town in Africa. They get

excited when they realize that this bridge constructed with

the assistance of a civil engineer will solve the

residents’ problem of not having transportation

to take their children to school every day.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is also

practiced by other large organizations such as

NASA. The female engineers who participate

as mentors beneﬁt from it as well. Mentors

share their knowledge, explore their discipline

further and make an impact in a girl’s future.

Through encouragement, a girl who may have

otherwise decided to pursue a different major

may decide to become an engineer. It is during

these early years of middle and high school that

we can really make an impact and shape bright

and young minds.

At the SWE local conference, I had the op-

portunity to chair the awards committee in

Raleigh, North Carolina. At the awards cer-

emony, we recognized three different winners’

categories: group, professional and collegiate

awards. In the group awards, we recognized

winners of the collegiate competition for un-

dergraduate and graduate students. It is a great

experience for these students to present their

papers and have real engineering practitioners

as judges. The winners were judged by creativ-

ity, clarity and organizational skills.

As I watched the winners come to the stage to receive their

awards, I felt admiration and realized we still have a lot of

work to do to increase our diversity numbers in engineering.

In partnering with organizations such as SWE, Girl Scouts of

the USA and Girls Who Code, we will not only promote our

industrial and systems engineering profession but also pique

these young women’s interests and encourage more of them

FIGURE 1

Women in engineering: By the numbers

Data on women in engineering ﬁelds, from the Society of Women Engineers’

research site research.swe.org and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.

gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm.

Freshmen intending to major in engineering, math, statistics or computer

science

2007: 18.1% (men); 3.7% (women)

2017: 27.9% (men); 9.5% (women)

Women leaving engineering/STEM

Over 32% of women switch out of STEM degree programs in college.

30% of women who earn bachelor’s degrees in engineering are still working in

engineering 20 years later.

30% of women who have left the engineering profession cite organizational climate as the

reason.

Degrees awarded

40% increase in bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering and computer science from

2012 (146,060) to 2017 (205,181)

58% increase in bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering and computer science to

women from 2012 (25,900) to 2017 (40,876)

20% of bachelor’s degrees are awarded to women in engineering and computer science.

6% of bachelor’s degrees in engineering are awarded to women of color.

In the workforce

13% of engineers are women.

26% of computer scientists are women.

Female engineers earn 10% less than male engineers.

17% of tenured/tenured track faculty in engineering are women.

Top 10 engineering degrees for women 2017-18

Mechanical

Chemical

Computer science

Biomedical

Civil

Industrial/manufacturing/systems

Electrical

Computer engineering

Environmental

Metallurgical and materials

What can we do as ISEs to

encourage more young girls to join

the ﬁeld? Ideas include getting them

exposed at an early age to games and

activities that develop their spatial

skills and lay the foundation for

scientiﬁc exploration. We can promote

industrial engineering role models

who reﬂect diversity. We can use the

power of storytelling to present young

ladies with stories about how ISEs

have changed the world.

30 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

women of ISE

to select engineering as a career of choice.

What can we do as ISEs to encourage more young girls

to join the ﬁeld? Ideas include getting them exposed at an

early age to games and activities that develop their spatial

skills and lay the foundation for scientiﬁc exploration. We

can promote industrial engineering role models who reﬂect

diversity. We can use the power of storytelling to present

young ladies with stories about how ISEs have changed the

world. Any girl can explain how a doctor can save lives, but

can they explain the same impact of an ISE? In engineering,

every voice is needed at the table and everyone suffers when

disparities exist.

As IISE continues focusing on serving the profession and

promoting diversity through its Strategic Plan for 2020, we

should continue strengthening relationships with female-

oriented STEM organizations. As we get more involved

with these organizations, it is important that we clearly ar-

ticulate the value that industrial and systems engineers bring

to our society, so we have a clear identity in the eyes of these

young generations. This will inspire the younger population

of future women engineers to select ISE as their majors. 

Diana Berry is a global supply chain specialist at Harsco Rail. She

was the program chair for the 2018 IISE Annual Conference and a

founding board member of the IISE Sustainable Development and

Logistics and Supply Chain Divisions. Berry currently serves as

IISE vice president of technical operations leading the IE Body of

Knowledge Governance Committee. She has served as president of

Central Savannah River section for the Society of Women Engineers

for two consecutive years and as SWE scholarships judge for several

years. You can contact the author at dianapz@hotmail.com.

House forms Women

in STEM Caucus

Even in a divided political landscape,

congressional leaders can agree on

the need to promote more diversity in

STEM ﬁelds. In January 2020, members

of the U.S. House of Representatives

have formed a bipartisan group aimed

at encouraging more young women to

pursue careers in science, technology,

engineering and math.

The Congressional Women in STEM Caucus is a bipartisan

group dedicated to advancing the important role women in

STEM ﬁelds have in the nation’s economy and research. Its

members seek to promote partnerships between universities

and federal research agencies, programs designed to support

and advance women in STEM and scientiﬁc advancements by

female researchers.

One of the caucus’ co-founders, Rep. Chrissie Houlahan

(D-Pa.), has an industrial engineering degree from Stanford

and served in the Air Force and as a business entrepreneur and

high school STEM teacher. She was featured in a “What’s Your

Story?” proﬁle in the April issue of ISE (https://link.iise.org/

april2020_houlahan).

“For too long, the STEM community has felt inaccessible to

women and underrepresented minorities,” Houlahan said. “I’m

proud to stand alongside my colleagues from both sides of the

aisle to give STEM a much needed makeover. Our mission is

clear: show women, girls and underrepresented minorities that

STEM is for everyone.”

The other co-founders and caucus chairs are Reps. Haley

Stevens (D-Mich.), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) and Jackie Walorski

(R-Indiana).

“By expanding access and encouraging girls of all ages to

explore STEM ﬁelds, we can create more jobs and opportunity

in our communities and open doors for them to achieve their

full potential,” Walorski said.

“Women and girls everywhere need to know that they can

succeed in the STEM ﬁelds, and that our country and our

economy won’t succeed without them,” Stevens said.

The lawmakers were also behind the push to pass a bill

signed into law in 2019 that is aimed at giving more girls full

access to STEM educational opportunities. The bicameral,

bipartisan Building Blocks of STEM Act is designed to

introduce more students, speciﬁcally females, to scientiﬁc

activities at an early age.

Girls take part in activities during Introduce a Girl to Engineering

Day in 2019, conducted by the Society of Women Engineers’

Central Savannah River district. The 2020 event was canceled due

to the coronavirus pandemic.

June 2020 | ISE Magazine 31

Stronger together: Advice on overcoming

obstacles, working for a greater good

Women in positions of inﬂuence can shape the future for others

By Casey Spansel

I remember my ﬁrst day of work like it was yesterday.

This momentous day evoked a spectrum of emotions:

excitement and anticipation coupled with stress and

anxiety cascading down all at once. Getting ready in

the morning was a huge ordeal – I recited greetings and

casual things to say to my co-workers while poring over

what outﬁt to wear. On the drive to work, all of the advice

I’ve received over the past few weeks ﬂashed in my mind

and provided a welcome distraction from the morning traf-

ﬁc. From commencement speakers to professors, parents and

friends, everyone seemed to have their own nugget of wis-

dom for me.

As I sorted through these thoughts, it occurred to me that

most of the advice was the same: Don’t be afraid of failure, be

open to change, never stop learning, be humble, be true to

yourself, etc. These rather conventional, albeit good, insights

are meant to guide you toward success and prosperity in the

early years of your career.

But what about the advice that doesn’t ﬁt into nice, neat

packaging? The advice that can be tough to discuss without

possibly jading young, blossoming professionals? Those are

the insights I wish to impart, and at the risk of sounding con-

ventional myself, what I wish I had known as a young female

engineer entering the workforce.

My ﬁrst piece of advice is to remember that not everyone

shares your same beliefs. This seems an obvious statement but

the particular belief I refer to is that everyone deserves to be

treated equally, even those who don’t ﬁt the mold of a stereo-

typical engineer. When you graduate and leave the bubble of

higher education where you befriend and share coursework

with like-minded individuals, there is a culture shock await-

ing you outside those classroom doors.

I was never made to feel “less than” during my time in

college, but I would be lying if I told you that entering the

workforce as a woman in a male-dominated ﬁeld is a cake-

walk. That said, not everything is doom and gloom, and

there have been many times when I am taken aback by the

support I receive from my co-workers, both male and female.

But there are obstacles women face that people don’t want

to believe exist, mostly because it upends the belief stated

above, and it is a tough pill to swallow when you encounter

people who think otherwise. The good news is that these

obstacles can be overcome, but the sooner we acknowledge

they exist, the quicker we can work together to eradicate

toxic behavior that contributes to workplace inequality.

This brings me to the second piece of advice I would give

my younger self: Whether you want the responsibility or not,

you are helping shape the future of work for others. With

this in mind, I can’t help but think of the different types of

power people possess. In Brene Brown’s book Dare to Lead,

she mentions a form of power called “power over,” – a de-

structive form that occurs when the powerless are promoted

Casey Spansel is an IISE professional member who works at

Ruelco Inc. in New Orleans.

I was never made to feel “less than” during

my time in college, but I would be lying if I told

you that entering the workforce as a woman in

a male-dominated ﬁeld is a cakewalk. That said,

not everything is doom and gloom, and there

have been many times when I am taken aback

by the support I receive from my co-workers,

both male and female.

32 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

women of ISE

into a position of power and

repeat the behaviors that

made them feel powerless in

the ﬁrst place. An example of

myself exercising power over

is to say, “I had a less than

ideal path to get where I am

because I am a woman, so

why should I work to change

that for someone else?”

This form of power is in-

credibly destructive and self-

ish, and wielding it is a dis-

service to not just women

but to everyone who has

ever felt powerless – a feel-

ing most have experienced at

some point throughout their

career.

However, power over is

just one form; power does

not have to be used in a ty-

rannical manner and people can also exercise it for good.

If those in the position to do so work to change this pat-

tern of behavior and don’t exercise power over, inequality

and feelings of being powerless will be quelled. In addition,

if everyone in the workforce practiced the ideals of servant

leadership by giving up a small piece of themselves and their

time to act in a truly selﬂess manner, overall happiness and

well-being will increase in the workforce. People who give

their time to mentoring, nurturing and teaching others are

invaluable and ensure the success of future generations. And

by breaking the cycle of exercising power over and genuinely

taking an interest in others’ success, future leaders are more

likely to practice servant leadership instead of using power

for selﬁsh reasons. When you reach the top, reach down and

help others attain their goals.

The advice I’d give my younger self seems very altruistic

and pie-in-the-sky, but the question I ask myself brings ev-

erything back into focus and makes it feel doable. That is:

What are the values that shape who we are and act as the

driving forces in what we do? For me, those values are self-

fulﬁllment and growth. But self-fulﬁllment doesn’t have to

be selﬁsh; it can manifest in ways that are the exact opposite.

It can mean being fulﬁlled by helping others, choosing not

to exercise “power over,” and striving to be better than you

were yesterday.

Whatever those values may be for you, you would ﬁnd

that they all lead to the same thing: seeking out a sense of

purpose by working toward something bigger than your-

self, a fundamental component of the human condition.

And looking out for the well-being of others – regardless

of gender, race, religion or social status – is a sureﬁre way

of doing that. 

Casey R. Spansel is a native of New Orleans and received her

bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Louisiana State

University in 2012 and her master’s degree in engineering manage-

ment from University of New Orleans in 2019. She is an IISE

professional member and works full time at Ruelco Inc. Her main

focus is lean manufacturing, quality assurance, QMS implementa-

tion and ISO 9001 compliance. You can contact the author at

crspansel@gmail.com.

“Engineering is an interdisciplinary,

collaborative effort. The ISE profession works

to develop an integrated understanding of the

complex world in order to design processes

and systems that improve quality, productivity,

and the joy of living. Given the recent

COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting

dramatic disruptions, there has never been a

richer opportunity for the solutions that ISE

professionals can help provide.”

– Jamie Rogers, Ph.D., PE

IISE immediate past president

June 2020 | ISE Magazine 33

Improving processes in the Navy and beyond

Veteran’s career path was buoyed by support from a female commander

By Cindy Young

When asked to share my

career path in support of

Women in Engineering

Day, I could not help but

think that they have the

wrong person. I do not

work in the ﬁeld of engineering. My

undergraduate degree was English lan-

guage and literature and my graduate

degrees, including my doctorate, are all

in business administration.

Then I looked back at my career and

realized that though I do not design

systems or turn wrenches, I have sup-

ported the STEM (science, technology,

engineering and mathematics) ﬁelds

most of my adult life. It has not been an

easy career, but my professional trajec-

tory has evolved throughout the years

and I hope it can encourage young

women to pursue a career in STEM

studies.

Throughout my military career, I

only had one female manager and any

female mentorship was grown from re-

lationships outside of my duty stations.

This mindset has carried on to my de-

fense contracting career. To do this, I

do not actively seek out male or female

mentors but instead have mentors as I

move through life because this works

for me.

I enlisted in the Navy in 1989 and

attended an electronics school in Pen-

sacola, Florida, to become a cryptologic

technician (maintenance). After train-

ing in Pensacola, I was transferred to

Texas for follow-on training and then

to permanent shore duty in Imperial

Beach, California, where I spent three

years in the San Diego area standing

watches and maintaining electronic

equipment.

After three years in San Diego, I

transferred to Submarine Group 10

in Kings Bay, Georgia, and spent two

years working on equipment support-

ing communications with submarines,

another on-the-job training learning

experience. During this tour, I earned

my associate degree in general studies

and was selected for commissioning as

a naval ofﬁcer. I left Kings Bay in 1995

to attend school at the University of

Maryland, College Park, to complete

my bachelor’s degree.

After earning my commission, I went

to schools for division ofﬁcer leadership,

the Harpoon missile and the Toma-

hawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM),

all to become a Strike Ofﬁcer leading

a small division of ﬁre controlmen and

gunner’s mates on a Spruance-class

destroyer, the former USS Arthur W.

Radford. While on board, I earned my

Surface Warfare Ofﬁcer (SWO) desig-

nation, which meant I was qualiﬁed to

operate the ship and performed various

leadership responsibilities. By earning

an Engineering of the Watch letter, I

gained the trust of the chief engineer

and the commanding ofﬁcer to oversee

the ship’s engineering plant.

Following my ﬁrst sea duty tour, I

transferred to Commander, 2nd Fleet,

for shore duty and worked with a small

Cindy Young was a presenter at the 2018 IISE Engineering Lean & Six Sigma Conference

in Atlanta.

Photos courtesy of Cindy Young

Cindy Young is seen at her U.S. Navy retirement ceremony with Capt. Matt Bobola.

34 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

women of ISE

team of ﬁre controlmen to support the

ships in the Atlantic Fleet. From there,

I served on the now-decommissioned

USS John F. Kennedy, a conventional

(non-nuclear) aircraft carrier and on

USS James E. Williams, an Arleigh

Burke-class destroyer, where I was re-

sponsible for the ship’s guns and missiles

and for the Aegis Weapon System and

associated equipment. I stood watch as

a tactical action ofﬁcer accountable for

the defense of the ship using the ship’s

weapons, sensors and propulsion in the

absence of the commanding ofﬁcer.

Following these sea duty commands,

I served as the Future Operations In-

tegrated Air and Missile Defense Ofﬁ-

cer at Naval Forces Central Command

in Manama, Bahrain, and as a TLAM

instructor for two courses at Tactical

Training Group, Atlantic in Virginia

Beach, Virginia, before retiring after

23 years in the Navy.

I retired as a lieutenant commander

to begin working at McKean Defense

as a defense contractor in 2012 and as a

consultant, moving up as a knowledge

manager to program manager then as a

division manager of the company’s Sur-

face Ship Enterprise Support division

responsible for providing leadership

and management. I earned my doctor-

ate in business administration in project

management with my study, “Knowl-

edge Management and Innovation on

Firm Performance of United States

Ship Repair.”

Outside of my job, I support the On-

ward-to-Opportunity program, which

helps veterans prepare for the transi-

tion from military service to civilian

positions. I have written chapters for

the “Refractive Thinker” series with

a focus on knowledge management in

women’s leadership, global teams and

most recently project management. I

also speak at various conferences for

lean, Six Sigma and operational excel-

lence, that includes IISE, with a knowl-

edge management focus to share my

thoughts on how organizations can im-

prove and develop processes and proce-

dures within their frameworks through

a knowledge management lens.

Throughout my career, I have had

many male supervisors and leaders, but

very few female leaders who were in-

ﬂuential. The woman I remember most

was Lt. Cmdr. Lisa Franchetti, who was

the aide to the vice chief of Naval Op-

erations during my temporary assign-

ment at the Pentagon, though she was

not in my chain of command. In 1998,

I was preparing to transfer to Newport,

Rhode Island, for my division ofﬁcer

school pipeline when she inspired me

through a note she had written to me

encouraging me to embrace the world

as a surface warfare ofﬁcer and that I

would love going to sea.

She is now Vice Admiral Franchetti

with numerous responsibilities: Com-

mander, U.S. 6th Fleet and Task Force

6, Naval Striking and Support Forces

NATO; Deputy Commander, U.S.

Naval Forces Europe; Deputy Com-

mander, U.S. Naval Forces Africa;

and Joint Force Maritime Component

Commander. Her words of encourage-

ment have stuck with me throughout

my naval career and are still with me

today.

I hope my story can inspire the wom-

en in the workforce to pursue a career in

the STEM ﬁelds or realize they can sup-

port them through their focus. Looking

back at my career, I see how much work

I have accomplished in and around the

STEM ﬁeld. As I turn 50 this summer,

I will continue to work with a knowl-

edge management focus supporting

lean, Six Sigma project management

and systems engineering. It is up to you

to determine what you want to do in

life, but know that you will ﬁnd your

way by continuing to push forward

with what interests you. 

Cynthia J. Young, Ph.D., resides in Chesa-

peake, Virginia. She holds a bachelor’s de-

gree in English language and literature from

the University of Maryland, Master of Busi-

ness Administration degrees in e-commerce

and advanced management studies from Tri-

dent University International, and a Doctor

of Business Administration in project man-

agement from Walden University. Young is

a theater mission planning center curriculum

developer and instructor with Leidos, a de-

fense contracting company, after retiring as a

surface warfare ofﬁcer with 23 years in the

U.S. Navy. She is a past chair of American

Society for Quality (ASQ), Section 1128,

and a member of the Project Management

Institute. She holds professional certiﬁcations

as a project management professional, a lean

Six Sigma master black belt and a certiﬁed

manager of quality/organizational excellence

and author. You can contact the author at

cynthia.j.young@leidos.com.

A letter from Lt. Cmdr. Lisa Franchetti,

now a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy, to

Cindy Young helped encourage her early in

her naval career.

Cindy Young is pictured while serving in

the U.S. Navy as surface warfare ofﬁcer at

the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay near

St. Mary’s, Georgia.

June 2020 | ISE Magazine 35

Academic leaders pave way

for next generation of ISEs

Three female leaders in industrial engineering academia in 2019 were elected

to serve as chairs of the Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Department Heads

(CIEADH). Two share their academy journeys and efforts to promote industrial

and systems engineering to a new generation of female students.

Find a mentor, then be a

role model to others

By Linda Ng Boyle

I got my ﬁrst job as an industrial en-

gineer at the Boeing Co. in Seattle

right after graduating with a bach-

elor’s degree in industrial engineer-

ing from SUNY at Buffalo, New

York. I started as a methods analyst

and my primary duties were focused on

enhancing manufacturing operations us-

ing control charts, scheduling tools and

simple statistical analysis. Boeing provid-

ed me the opportunity to get a master’s

degree in industrial engineering at the

University of Washington.

The ﬁrst lecture I attended in the

master’s program was for a design of

experiments class. The instructor, who

would become my master’s thesis ad-

viser, would continually challenge me to

think outside of the box. He helped me

ﬁnd passion for human factors, statistical

modeling and conducting high quality

research.

After my master’s adviser moved to an-

other university, I continued for a Ph.D.

at the University of Washington in civil

engineering, where I used industrial and

systems engineering tools for applica-

tions in transportation. My Ph.D. men-

tor in civil engineering showed me the

beauty of data-driven approaches. This

has provided the basis for my lifelong

research interest in human factors and

transportation.

After earning my Ph.D., I worked as a

transportation consultant for a small ﬁrm

in Seattle and then became a research sci-

entist at the U.S. Department of Trans-

portation in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

At a driver distraction workshop for the

DOT, I was approached about my in-

terest in being a professor. I had always

wanted to teach and was excited about

the opportunity. The school was in a lo-

cation I had never visited, but I was will-

ing to take a chance.

To this day, I feel very fortunate that I

was able to be a faculty member at Uni-

versity of Iowa as I learned a great deal,

met wonderful colleagues and got to do

some exciting research. For family rea-

sons, I actively pursued a faculty position

at the University of Washington, which

led me to where I am today.

I have worked in industry, consulting,

government and academia, and by far

academia suits me best. I thoroughly en-

joy teaching, working with students and

working on research projects that allow

me to continually learn new and inter-

esting things.

I have seen many changes in my pro-

fession since I graduated with my bach-

elor’s degree in 1986. At that time, the

majority of my ISE peers found jobs in

consulting, ﬁnance and manufacturing.

While consulting jobs are still of inter-

est to graduating seniors, there does not

appear to be as strong an interest in the

ﬁnancial sector. There are still many

manufacturing jobs, but there is also a

Three women serve as chairs of the Council of Industrial Engineering Academic

Department Heads. From left, CIEADH Past Chair Janis Terpenny of the University of

Tennessee, Chair-elect Eileen Van Aken of Virginia Tech and Chair Linda Ng Boyle of the

University of Washington.

36 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine

women of ISE

growing interest in jobs in the health

sector as well as in high tech companies

such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and

Apple. These organizations have jobs

that ISEs are well suited for, including

data scientist, product design, systems

modeler, risk analysis and usability ana-

lyst.

Industrial engineering has always been

an attractive engineering ﬁeld for wom-

en. I have been very fortunate to have

been surrounded by many intelligent

females throughout my engineering and

academic career and it is great to see this

community well represented in admin-

istrative roles.

Here are some words of advice to pass

along:

Transitioning between academia

and industry. My path toward aca-

demia was not straightforward, but I

learned a lot along the way and would

not trade any of the experiences I gained.

I am asked often by graduate students

whether they can get an academic job

after being in an industry or govern-

ment position for some time period. The

answer is “yes,” but you do want to stay

current in research if a tenure track posi-

tion is your goal. This does involve be-

ing involved in your professional society,

publishing and networking. There are

also many ways to be involved in an aca-

demic setting besides the tenure track.

The growing roles of teaching professors

and research tracks have become invalu-

able for many universities.

Finding a mentor. Throughout my

career, mentors have played a huge role

in my life experiences. You can have

more than one mentor and they do not

have to be in the same research area.

They can be anyone you regard highly,

you value their advice and you feel at

ease when talking to them about your

highs and lows.

Job search. When I ﬁrst started at

Boeing, industrial engineers were not

recognized as “engineers.” There are

now many jobs at Boeing with the title

of industrial engineer. However, for

those entering the job market, there are

actually many job titles that encompass

industrial engineering skills. The UW

ISE Executive Advisory Board came up

with a list of ISE job titles posted on our

website at link.iise.org/isejobtitles.

Being a role model. Anyone has the

ability to be a role model. I have been

most inspired by those who demonstrate

passion, and high integrity and work

ethics. In general, if you follow your pas-

sion, others will see that passion. And if

they are inspired by your passion, they

may even ask you to be a mentor. 

Linda Ng Boyle is professor and chair of In-

dustrial & Systems Engineering Department

and a professor of civil & environmental engi-

neering at the University of Washington. She

is chair of the Council of Industrial Engineer-

ing Academic Department Heads at link.iise.

org/iise_cieadh.

Motivated by a strong desire

to make a difference

By Janis Terpenny

My career journey and

draw to STEM and en-

gineering comes from a

strong desire to under-

stand and solve real prob-

lems and to make a differ-

ence in the world. I enjoy collaborations,

particularly those that bring diverse

perspectives and backgrounds together.

I have always enjoyed the breadth and

focus of industrial engineering, always

seeking to make things better with an

emphasis on people, processes and sys-

tems and the applicability of tools and

methods of industrial engineering to

virtually every application domain.

As a researcher, educator and leader

in the areas of engineering design, de-

sign education and manufacturing, my

approach has often included collabora-

tions around problems of signiﬁcance

that have brought industry, community

partners, government and/or univer-

sities together. I feel strongly that real

problems and real partners help to solve

the problem at hand, inform and inspire

fundamental research, bridge research

to practice and provide the opportunity

to educate, mentor and inspire students.

K-12 students need to be inspired by the

problems and big impact they can have

as engineers, not simply hear that they

are smart and that engineering is hard,

but they can do it. They want to make

a difference.

To be effective leaders, women can-

not completely emulate their male

counterparts but must recognize and

utilize their unique perspectives, talents

and skills. In particular, female leaders

should give themselves permission to

be creative and try new approaches that

may not have been envisioned or tried

by their male counterparts.

For me, this has included a positive,

enthusiastic and inspiring approach.

I enjoy being creative and trying new

methods to foster engagement and col-

laboration. I am often characterized as

being quite different by those I work

for and with. They often welcome this

change over the top-down authoritar-

ian approach that may have become fa-

miliar to them. 

IISE Fellow Janis Terpenny has held sev-

eral leadership positions and often been the

ﬁrst woman to serve in her role as dean of

engineering at the University of Tennessee,

department head of Industrial & Manufac-

turing Engineering at Penn State University

and as department chair of Industrial and

Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa

State University. She has served as director

of the Center for e-Design, a multi-univer-

sity and 20-plus member National Science

Foundation (NSF) industry university co-

operative research center for many years. She

also served as the technology lead for the Ad-

vanced Manufacturing Enterprise area for one

of the nation’s ﬁrst manufacturing institutes,

the Digital Manufacturing and Design In-

novation Institute. She has also served as a

program director at the NSF and has been

a professor at Virginia Tech and at the Uni-

versity of Massachusetts Amherst. She serves

on the IISE Board of Trustees as senior vice

president, academics, and is past chair of

CIEADH.

June 2020 | ISE Magazine 37

Industry 4.0 and the call for

inclusive organizations

Everyone has a role in breaking down barriers for underrepresented persons

By Sneha Sinha

We’re in the midst of a signiﬁcant transforma-

tion regarding the way we innovate, manufac-

ture and collaborate. Yet we live in a society

that historically excludes talented individuals

with underrepresented identities from taking

a seat at the table. It is time to change the nar-

rative and intentionally approach leadership with an inclusive

and change-driven mindset.

It is every person’s responsibility to critically analyze mis-

representations in current diversity initiatives that lead to a

false delusion of progress. We must discuss opportunities for

internal improvement and build inclusive cultures that reﬂect

the experiences of underrepresented persons. Breaking down

barriers to entry and growth will enable leaders to do the

right thing while unlocking a multitude of beneﬁts for their

organization.

While Industry 4.0 is evolving our technical understand-

ing of business and manufacturing, we must simultaneously

realize the critical need to evolve the inclusion of underrep-

resented voices. Companies are grappling with how to pre-

pare their workforce to take on new responsibilities that sur-

face as industry moves toward the next stage of technology

and competition. We must envision a revolution where we

harness the power of technology with the voices and needs of

diverse communities at its heart.

There are a multitude of misconceptions and misunder-

standings about diversity, inclusion and equity. Simply en-

couraging the hiring of underrepresented employees to

increase diversity in our organizations cannot be where it

ends. We have to let down our mental barriers and critically

analyze the history of our economy and society. This will

help us understand why we have an unfair playing ﬁeld in

leadership, and why we see less diversity as we go higher up

in any organization.

An abundance of research proves that diverse teams in-

crease innovation and proﬁts, signiﬁcantly impacting the

bottom line. It is imperative to recognize the value of includ-

ing underrepresented candidates beyond exploiting labor for

the ﬁnancial beneﬁt of the organization. Women and people

of color have been denied equal opportunities through hun-

dreds of years of legal and social exclusion.

While a diversity focus has come to the forefront of re-

cruitment, an in-depth view of the experiences of under-

represented individuals at organizations shows there are con-

cerningly low retention rates. People of color and women

experience exclusion, lack of a sense of belonging and impos-

ter syndrome at signiﬁcantly higher rates than others.

A nationwide 2019 survey of nearly 6,000 identities in