About the author:
Bob Crossen is the senior managing editor for Water & Wastes Digest. Crossen can be reached at [email protected].
Compiled by Bob Crossen
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Why Water?
Water is the basis of all life. What an opportunity exists to be someone who studies and looks for ways to make water cleaner, safer, and more accessible to people all over the world. I like working for Arcadis as I am able to apply my expertise to a wide variety of projects all over the world. Every day presents a different challenge!
What about your current position excites you?
I really think that more effort needs to be made toward regional treatment residuals disposal facilities as simply disposing of solids in a landfill is not sustainable, and not all areas are amenable to beneficial reuse all around. I would like to see residuals used as a fuel for energy generation.
What is your moonshot idea for solving what you consider to be the most important water industry problem today?
I have preferred to have many mentors over the years, but mainly technical mentoring. I think that there are too many career-related mentoring programs, but I find that one needs more technical mentoring.
What role has mentorship played in your career to date?
If you know your technical stuff, that helps in relating with clients and folks internal to your organization in a way that career mentoring alone cannot achieve. Probably Duolingo.
What piece of media (books, TV shows, movies, games, podcasts, etc.) has had the greatest impact on you in the past 12 months?
I spend my spare time in language learning and am currently trying to progress my Brazilian Portuguese beyond conversational level and I'm also learning Welsh. I do use Portuguese in my work with my Brazilian clients, but am learning Welsh, just because I find it poetically beautiful.
What does it mean to you to be a woman who works in the water industry?
I don't think of myself as a "woman who works in the water industry," I think of myself as an "engineer who works in the water industry."
