Extreme Engineer of the Month

Profile: Jennifer Holcomb, PE, PSP; Dewberry, Security Engineer

Jennifer and the yearling alligator she and her team rescued while excavating a coffer dam in Florida.

Education: Bachelor of Civil Engineering, University of Dayton

Favorite Classes: Highway Design, Structures, Classical Guitar

Best Skills: Flexibility and eagerness to learn. Since graduation, I have sought out every opportunity to expand my knowledge base and continue learning new things. I first worked on an anti-terrorism/force protection project because I expressed an interest in the topic. From there things just progressed swiftly, and now I conduct vulnerability/risk/threat assessments and design projects to protect people and places. One of the most interesting things about security design is thinking like the “bad guy” to determine what needs to be done to protect an asset.  

Hobbies: Juggling, guitar, and knitting.

Role Model: I don’t think I ever really had a role model per se, just the drive instilled in me by my parents to go after what I wanted and be successful.

Advice: Don't be afraid to tell someone you don't know the answer or how to do something. Just make a point to find out. Don't let people's opinions prevent you from doing what you want to do—not even your own.

Jennifer grew up in a small town in Michigan. Even when she was younger, she was always fascinated with building things or figuring out how they worked. However, when she got to high school there were actually two different careers that caught her attention. The first was psychology, but thinking further she decided to draw on her strength in math and science and chose engineering.

Jennifer was always very interested in the environment, so she looked at engineering programs that could clean up the environment or solve potential problems. She also considered ocean and coastal engineering. "You can take just about anything out there in the world and tie it into engineering," she says. "You just have to figure out what type of engineering coordinates with your interest."

College Search—Just Be Close Enough to Come Home for the Holidays

During her junior year of high school, Jennifer began looking at engineering schools around the country with environmental engineering programs and civil or chemical programs with a concentration in environmental engineering. Her parents had only one stipulation: just be close enough so that you can come home for the holidays. After looking at all the material, she selected the University of Michigan, Illinois Institute of Technology, and the University of Dayton for visits and a closer look. All three had excellent engineering programs, but face to face the University of Dayton seemed like the best fit. "People really went out of their way to give me a good experience," she explained.

Coming from a small town, she felt challenged at UD and enjoyed her interactions with fellow students. "They were there to learn," she said, "but also to have a good time." She felt she could really be herself and didn't feel funny about being a female who was interested in science or mathematics.

Jennifer juggles torches in college and was a member of the World's Most Dangerous Juggling Club.

Flip Flop…

Jennifer started out in the civil engineering track, but soon shifted into environmental engineering technology. During her third year, she switched back to civil engineering because the environmental program had more of a regulatory concentration. It wound up adding a year to her schooling, but for Jennifer it was well worth the time.

Majoring in civil engineering introduced her to a wide range of concepts she hadn't really thought about—transportation, geology, environmental, and structures, to name a few. Hydraulics and hydrology were two of the classes she enjoyed the most.

Intern to Engineer

After her sophomore year, Jennifer interned with an environmental engineering firm during her summers and accepted a position with them upon graduation. Here she learned how to do environmental phase I site assessments as well as remediation monitoring and design. Then she decided to try something different.

She took a job with IT Corporation, where one of her first assignments was working on renovations at the Pentagon, pre-September 11. Her firm oversaw the demolition of one of the basement wedges, which required asbestos remediation. Jennifer did the inspections on one of the areas to be closed out and encapsulated. She learned a lot about how HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems work together as the walls came down.

Pentagon to Pumping Station

Next she worked on the construction of a pumping station in the Florida Everglades. The job site was like wild kingdom with alligators, poisonous snakes, iguanas, and other creatures. She learned a lot from her fellow engineers and subcontractors in building the structure. Because the site was below the water table, they had to build a coffer dam (a metal enclosure that allowed them to pump the water out and create a dry work environment) and bring divers in to check the bottom elevation. In addition, they had to install a 10-foot thick concrete tremie seal as the building’s base, because it was below the water table. This lowest floor was where the pumps were installed.

This 11-ft 7-in alligator was captured by a licensed trapper while Jennifer was working in the Florida Everglades.

A Project of Her Own

Ready for a new adventure, Jennifer accepted a position with Dewberry, an Engineering News-Record “Top 50” engineering design firm, working on environmental threat assessment. Here she was assigned her first big project on her own: filing a Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) Hazardous Waste Application for a client to store hazardous waste. There was a lot she had to learn to complete the project successfully—starting with not being shy to admit what she knew and didn’t know to get the resources and help she needed.

Her next project at Dewberry changed the course of her career. She was assigned to participate in a site vulnerability assessment. This study looked at four types of hazards—natural disasters, bombs and explosives, chemical/biological/radiological/nuclear hazards, and general physical security. She had to assess all four categories of threats on multiple buildings, and it all had to be done within a month. To follow up with what she learned on that project, she continued learning through research, attending classes, and went after additional certifications.

Thinking like a Bad Guy to Protect People

“I basically had to learn to think like a bad guy,” she said. “I can get into here if I do that. I can get into there if I do that. It’s fun. It’s basically like being a kid trying to figure out how to get a cookie out of a cookie jar.” As she developed expertise in this relatively new field of engineering, more projects came in, including one on vehicle access control points for the military. She spent time learning everything she could and has become the company’s expert on anti-terrorism force protection. “The goal is to assess vulnerability and help the client protect itself,” she said.

In addition to work in security, Jennifer continues to do environmental assessments and is also getting involved in the management side. She is considering continuing her education, possibly with course work on structures and how to make them more blast resistant.

Jennifer meets General Williams of the Overseas Business Office at a Department of State conference.

As a Design Engineer…

Jennifer designs ways for clients to help better protect their assets. As a licensed professional engineer (P.E.), Jennifer certifies or “stamps” the designs she creates. In so doing, she’s saying, “I will stand behind this design, and if it fails, it’s my fault.” In addition, on every project she’s designed, she’s had to do some CAD work. “There will come a time when it won’t be the most cost-effective thing for me to do my own CAD work, but I still need to know how to do it. I will need to be able to go in and make minor edits and actually have a sense of how things come together.”

Growth Opportunities Outside the Job...

Outside of work, Jennifer is a member of the Structural Engineering Institute's committee to develop blast standards for buildings. She also chairs the National Capital Chapter for ASIS, the American Society for Industrial Security. Jennifer's volunteer activities add to her professional knowledge, provide a network of colleagues, and help her build leadership skills—all of which provide tremendous benefit in her career development. In addition, she is a member of Toastmasters, where she's worked on developing her public speaking and leadership skills.