In celebration of Engineer’s Week, some of our staff explain why they chose to become engineers:

“I chose Engineering because It is the perfect fit for me.”
Marvin Valencia
Civil Engineer

“Too short to play basketball!
Actually, I always enjoyed math growing up and when I was around 10 years old, I was fascinated watching some road construction go on just four houses from where I lived. In college, the City manager was the dad of one of my study mates and I got to pal around with him and look at some of the road projects in Miami, OK.  One summer week, I worked on an asphalt crew resurfacing a parking lot. The next summer worked construction building a new YWCA. That was enough to let me know I didn’t want to work construction anymore, so when I got to OSU I picked Civil Engineering focusing on Transportation/Highway, something that made sense to me.”
Russell E. Dixon, P.E.
Senior Engineer

“In eleventh grade chemistry we studied water – and that’s where my curiosity for how and why water does what it does began. Shortly thereafter I attended engineering camps at OSU and MST where this passion for water and how it moves and shapes the earth grew.  Water is such a powerful thing and engineering helps us understand and respect it.  Now I have the opportunity to use this passion every day and in a way that makes a difference in lives each day.”
Rebecca Ward, P.E.
Civil Engineer