Extreme Engineer of the Month

Profile: Erin Venezia, Civil Engineer

In line with the E-Week focus on women in engineering, it seems fitting to feature a young female engineer for this month’s interview. Erin works for Judith Nitsch Engineering, Inc., (JNEI) a woman-owned engineering firm that specializes in civil engineering, land surveying, traffic engineering, planning, and GIS services.

Erin says she grew up with engineering. Her dad was a professional land surveyor and always kept an office in their home. Erin has been exposed to the profession of civil engineering and land surveying as long as she can remember. Her dad suggested civil engineering to her as a career choice when she was in kindergarten, and she has been saying that she was going to be a civil engineer ever since. She says she stayed with it because it seemed to fit her.

In high school Erin particularly enjoyed math, science, physics, and earth sciences. She took as many math and science classes as she could, which helped her prepare for college. Erin did her first two years at St. John Fisher College, a small liberal arts college in Rochester, N.Y., where she studied physics. She then transferred to Syracuse University as a civil engineering major. “I liked being in a program with so many facets—structural, environment, site planning—it’s very broad,” she said. She liked that civil engineering affects so many aspects of everyday life.

In part due to her exposure to engineering through her dad, she focused on site planning and the consulting industry. She found that she enjoyed utility work and site design—essentially everything involved in building a new building or a roadway other than the structural engineering aspects.

Despite only being out of school for three years, Erin has had great opportunities to work on a number of exciting projects in Boston at Judith Nitsch Engineering, Inc. Some have been smaller redevelopments of old buildings. One of the most exciting projects she’s been working on for the past two years is the Columbus Center Project. This new air-rights project will deck over a section of the Massachusetts Turnpike, which cuts through the city below grade creating a canyon of sorts that is criss-crossed with bridges.

The project encompasses building four new parcels that will cover the turnpike. Erin has been involved in interesting utility work to get the parcels ready to develop. “It’s exciting to work on a project of this magnitude,” she said. “It’s fascinating to see how much goes into it. When you look at the survey for the project, there are a thousand layers in the design document in AutoCAD. Everything has to be accounted for—curb lines, electric lines, sewer, drain, gas… You have to know how you’re going to locate everything.”

Erin is working to determine how the new buildings will fit the parcel and be serviced from the existing site services: Where is it going to get its water from? Where is the sanitary and storm water going to go? Where is the electricity coming from? How can it fit within the designated footprint, and how can it be serviced?

“The sheer magnitude was the biggest challenge of this project.” Erin said, the Columbus Center is a $500 million project. “It could be four projects in itself because it’s taking up four parcels.”  Erin notes that the project is in the design process, so there may be challenges still ahead. “It’s a challenge to get your design to work. The next challenge is building what you’ve designed,” she said.

Erin noted that even though she is still young in her career, she’s had many opportunities to innovate. “If you have a good idea,” she said, “you can implement it. You can say, ‘I can do this better,’ and go out and do it better.” She says that the environment she’s working in is open to new ideas. “The field is dynamic. There is a lot of new technology. We all work together to stay on top of it.”

Best of all, she likes seeing how her ideas can come to fruition. In three years in the field, she’s garnered a lot of experience. Sometimes she suggests an idea that no one has thought of, and someone 15 years her senior says, “That’s a great idea, let’s do it.” “It’s rewarding to see it work its way into the plan,” Erin says, “and actually get built.”

In addition to the work, Erin has also enjoyed her work environment. Judith Nitsch Engineering has a higher percentage of women that most firms. About 40 percent of engineers at JNEI are women. “It’s not really something you’d notice,” Erin says, “but as a woman engineer it’s a nice and somewhat unusual situation. It’s a benefit to be able to talk to someone about any issues that you may run into in the field. There’s nice camaraderie.”  The firm’s high standards and excellent reputation clearly show that women can excel and be leaders in the field—even head up their own firm.

“I would definitely recommend engineering as a career for girls,” says Erin. “I’m always surprised when I read that more girls are not going into careers in science and math. Even if you struggle with some aspects of math that doesn’t mean that’s the end of it. If you like it, find an aspect that you’re good at, and stick with it.”