Engineers Week 2021: Meet West Basin’s Engineers
Engineers Week, founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in 1951, is recognized during Sunday, February 21, 2021 to Saturday, February 27, 2021.
As a supporter of NSPE, West Basin Municipal Water District (West Basin) is in alignment with the values of NSPE to ensure a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers. To celebrate Engineers Week this year, West Basin recognizes some of the District’s engineering professionals to highlight the diverse backgrounds and roles of its engineers.
Meet Our Engineers
Camille Castillo, Engineer II
- Hometown: Nipomo, CA
- College: University of California at San Diego (UCSD)
- What made you want to become an engineer? “I became an engineer so that I could be a part of the solution to helping solve the water issues at hand in our state, as well as give back to my community by building sustainable water infrastructure.”
Joel Blair, PE, Senior Engineer
- Hometown: Geneva, Switzerland
- College: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
- What made you want to become an engineer? “LEGO and SimCity! I am grateful for having early access to these resources – which grew my love for large-scale planning, detailed design, and hands-on construction.”
Susanna Li, PE, Senior Operations Engineer
- Hometown: Honolulu, HI/Irvine, CA
- College: BSCE – Purdue University; MSE- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
- What made you want to become an engineer? “Growing up in Hawaii, I learned about the destruction of Hawaii’s beautiful heritage/environment by either developers and other causes inspired me to wanting to work in career that can help to preserve the natural beauty of Planet Earth. Choosing between Environmental Science versus Environmental Engineering was because at the time of my study, there were not too many women engineers and therefore I wanted to become the first woman engineer in the family.”
Jeremiah Shea, Operations Analyst
- Hometown: Simi Valley, CA
- College: University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) – B.S. Hydrologic Science & Water Policy and California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) and M.S. Environmental Engineering (Water Resources)
- What made you want to become an engineer? “My undergraduate studies in Hydrologic Science & Water Policy led me into the water / wastewater industry when I first graduated from college. During my first job as a lab technician for Las Virgenes MWD, I was exposed to a variety of the district’s water and wastewater treatment & reclamation facilities and became fascinated with the inner workings of water treatment and distribution systems, which are now part of my day-to-day responsibilities working for the Operations Department at West Basin.”
West Basin’s engineers work on a variety of projects, from facility operations and maintenance to construction planning and design. For more information about the various programs that West Basin’s engineers support, visit: www.westbasin.org/water-supplies/water-for-tomorrow/.
To learn more about West Basin’s recognition of Engineers Week 2021, view the press release here.
