WIE Dinner 2012 Biographies

Jennifer Brown

I am currently in my third year as an Assistant Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department. I am a Montana native and did both my undergraduate degree and PhD in Engineering here at MSU. After graduate school, I did postdoctoral work at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand funded by an NSF International Research Fellowship. My main area of research is in soft matter systems, such as complex fluids and gels, where I use Magnetic Resonance (MR) techniques and rheological characterization to study the viscoelastic fluid response to an applied deformation. I love to travel and my research has taken me many places from living in New Zealand to a research visit in Sweden, and paper presentations in Japan, Australia, Germany and China. Now I feel lucky I can teach and conduct research in beautiful Montana where I can take advantage of the surroundings and ski or run in the mountains, depending on the season.

Andrea  S. Ceartin, PE

Andrea Ceartin started her career with the Natural Resources Conservation Service while pursuing her degree here at MSU. She entered their Student Career Experience Program in 1995 and spent each summer working in a different part of the state assisting an engineer in that area. In 2001 she came on full time as a field engineer here in Bozeman covering this quarter of the state and doing lots of stream restoration work. This location allowed her husband a chance to finish his degree and they also added two little girls to the clan. In 2005 she was transferred to Glendive, Montana, and spent 4 years covering eastern Montana improving her skills on flood irrigation and Animal Feeding Operations. She also felt it was time to attempt her Professional Engineering exam the spring of 2006 and happily accepted the title, once she got up the nerve to open the envelope and saw she passed.  June of 2009 she found herself moving her family back to Bozeman looking at the future of the agency and the options for advancement here and is currently an Area Engineer covering a vast variety of agricultural practices in this part of the state.

She has tried to balance career and family over the years, teaching her two girls that they can do anything! While in Glendive she became a member of the Zonta Ladies, a professional women’s service organization which lead to inspiring high school girls by acting as mentor/advisor for the Z club, a high school organization for future professional women.  In addition she tried her hand a couple seasons as soccer coach and continues to be a soccer mom. She does her best to squeeze in weekend hunting trips up the mountain around soccer games, home football games and the multitude of building projects always in the works.

Emily Davis

Shortly after receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Montana State University, Emily moved to Boston. There, she worked as a Mechanical Engineer for KaZaK Composites, Inc. KaZaK is a small Research and Development company that specializes in the design and development of composite structures. Among other projects, KaZaK does work for the Department of Defense through the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. Emily worked on a number of interesting programs in the time she was there, including manufacturing wing prototypes for a new Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and designing bullet-proof armor for soldiers’ knees and elbows.

Emily returned to Bozeman with her husband (also an MSU graduate) in the summer of 2007. She currently works for TowHaul Corporation in Belgrade. TowHaul designs and manufactures off-road trailers to haul mining equipment at open-pit mines. Their trailers, which are the largest in the world, can be found at mines throughout the US and in 15 other countries.

Emily’s major design responsibilities include the Gooseneck, which is used to lift the trailer and also serves as a tow hook, and the truck components which mount the Gooseneck to the haul truck. She also supervises a small team of mechanical engineers who design the lowboy trailers.

Jennifer Hornemann

Jennifer Hornemann graduated from Nacogdoches High School in 1995. She graduated with a B.S. in Physics from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1999 and a M.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Arkansas in 2000. In 2001, she started with GE as a design engineer at the Gas Turbine facility in South Carolina. In 2003, she transferred to GE Wind Energy in California to work as a field engineer. While continuing to work part-time for GE as a project engineer, she attended MSU and completed a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering. During her time at MSU, she was proud to be involved with the Women in Engineering and the EMPower Center. To broaden her research capabilites, Jen joined the Upstream Research Company at ExxonMobil in Houston Texas in 2009. Currently, she juggles (1) Mike, her successful, MSU mechanical engineer, husband, (2) an amazing five-year-old son Torsten, (3) the microbially induced corrosion laboratory for Upstream ExxonMobil, and (4) global travel collecting field samples.

Amanda Jorgenson

I moved to Bozeman over seven years ago to become an Engineering student at MSU. I didn't know what type of engineering I wanted to study, but "decided" on Industrial Engineering and Computer Science. (If you are an IE and have ever met Dr. Joe, you understand the quotes in that last sentence). I always intended on leaving Bozeman for the bright lights of a big city once I graduated, but the fall before I graduated, I made the decision to stay and I'm so glad that I did. I love Bozeman! For the last two years, I've been working at RightNow Technologies (which you might know was just acquired by Oracle). I started out in February, 2010 as an intern working part‐time until I graduated from MSU. Once I graduated, I moved into a full‐time internship and have been in a permanent position since March 1, 2011. Currently, I work in the Professional Services department where I act as an extension to my customers' RightNow admin teams helping them with just about anything they need help with. In my free time I love to bake and I think I've finally perfected French macaroons. Next, I think I'll tackle bread!

Kaela Kittredge

My name is Kaela Kittredge. I grew up in the small town of Fort Benton, Montana. Throughout high school I participated in basketball, volleyball, and golf where I learned hard  work and discipline. I have always enjoyed mathematics and problem solving, so an engineering degree is what I pursued. After high school graduation, I enrolled at Montana State University in the fall of 2006 in Industrial Engineering. MSU was an easy choice for me because I come from a family of Bobcat alumni! Also, I knew what a great engineering program they had to offer. I chose industrial engineering because it included the problem solving that I enjoyed in high school and it incorporated the people interaction that I wanted. Throughout my time at MSU, I enjoyed cheering on the Bobcats at the sporting events. I was also very involved in the various clubs and honor societies that MSU has to offer. I was an active member in Society of Women in Engineering, so I am very honored to be returning and participating in this event. I can remember attending this event when I was a student. I graduated from MSU in May 2010 and began my career as an Implementation Consultant with Fast Enterprises. I found Fast at the career fair (which Fast is attending again this year). I chose Fast because they had both the problem solving aspect and the people interaction that I was looking for in my career. Through my work at Fast, I find myself using my engineering skills on a regular basis and am confident that engineering was the right degree for me. I want to congratulate everyone for attending this event. I believe that it was events like this that gave me the opportunity to find a job at a great company that I enjoy working for, Fast Enterprises.

Sarah Lukes

Sarah Lukes received her B.S. in mechanical engineering in 2005 from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. She then worked for S2 Corporation, in Bozeman, doing cryogenic engineering and vibration reduction of laser‐based systems. Supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, she received her M.S. in electrical engineering in 2011 and is currently working toward a PhD in electrical engineering with an emphasis on deformable membrane mirrors for focus control, use of these mirrors in optical systems, and closed loop control techniques to extend the performance of such devices.

Leona Strizich

Leona Strizich is Chief Engineer of Payloads Systems Core Engineering for BCA. Leona was named to her current position in April of 2011 and is responsible for Payloads Engineering Product Development, Payloads Technology & Concept Center, Payloads Safety Airworthiness & Security, and the Payloads Skill Capability & Capacity.  She has oversight for these areas for Interiors across the Airplane Programs, CAS and Interior Responsibility Center (IRC).

Previously, Leona was Chief Engineer of the IRC and 737 Interiors where she was responsible for leading Interiors engineering design and development.   Prior to these most recent assignments, Leona held several positions in engineering supporting design development for 787, 737/757, 767 and 747 programs.

Leona joined Boeing in 1978 upon completing her engineering degree from Montana State University.  She spent the majority of her career within Payloads Organization.  She was fortunate to have supported many development programs in non-recurring and recurring phases, with the most recent being the 737 Boeing Sky Interior.

Leona enjoys traveling, cooking, sailing, and the outdoors.  She is married and lives in the Seattle area.