Women in Engineering Spotlight Series: Kiera Nissen
International Women in Engineering Day, held on June 23rd, is intended to promote and celebrate the passionate, and driven, women engineers across the globe. As a lead-up to International Women in Engineering Day, we’re highlighting the lives and inspirational work of some women engineers who help make French & Parrello Associates (FPA) great!
The annual event, now in its 10th year, is hosted by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES). To learn more about WES and how you can celebrate #INWED2023, visit their website: https://www.wes.org.uk/
The following is a Q&A with Kiera Nissen, PhD, EIT, a Staff Engineer in FPA’s Civil/Site Department. Kiera has been working at FPA for just about a year now, and is also a member of the firm’s softball team. She received her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Civil Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and then received a Master’s Degree and a Doctorate in Civil Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Can you share your journey and what motivated you to become an engineer?
When I was in middle school I heard about the specialized high schools in Monmouth County, and at first, I didn’t follow up with it until a friend told me how much I would love High Technology High School. Luckily, I got in just in time for the last information session they held that year (you had to go to an information session to apply) and then actually got in. They had a ton of engineering-focused electives and I took Civil Engineering and Architecture my junior year and that is honestly what sent me down the path of Engineering.
How have you seen the landscape change for women in engineering throughout your career?
Although I haven’t been here long, I have definitely noticed a bit of a change in women coming into the field of engineering. Just look at our Interns and new hires for example, so many of them are women. I feel like if you look at upper management versus new hires coming in you can really see a difference in the amount of women.
Can you share a significant project or accomplishment that you are particularly proud of?
One specific project that I can think of actually began within my first day of working at FPA. We just got a big approval that we have been waiting for in Delaware. It was really nice to finally get it.
What advice would you give to young women who are considering a career in engineering?
Stick to your guns. Be confident in yourself if you know you are correct in your knowledge.
Have you had any influential mentors or role models in your journey as an engineer? How have they impacted your career?
Lena (Barone) has been fantastic. I look up to what she does and the experiences she has gone through. Coming here as a project manager to start my career you can really vision yourself being in your mentor’s position in 15 years or so. Stephanie Pacifico is also a huge mentor for me. We went to High School and College together, and she introduced me to FPA and she has just been fantastic teaching me the nitty gritty of CAD and design.
How can we encourage more girls and young women to pursue STEM fields, particularly engineering?
I feel like we need to get the word out more that there is so much that you can do in the field of engineering. It is so diverse. I feel like there are many fields in engineering that are not well communicated. If we are able to explain that There’s more to civil engineering than bridges and construction, more young women will go into civil engineering. When I was a student, I always felt like STEM education in High Schools and Colleges were so focused on the mechanical perspective of engineering. There are so many ways to break down civil engineering to show students how cool it actually is.
