Interview With Raina Dwivedi, Water Resources Engineer
Addressing new and emerging issues and solutions in engineering
As a water resources engineer, Raina Dwivedi specializes in integrated water resources management and watershed planning. Raina has a Bachelors in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park and a Masters in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. We spoke with Raina as part of our #INWED19 campaign to not only celebrate our brilliant women engineers but also to raise their profiles and encourage those who aspire to become engineers and work in STEM. Follow #WomeninSTEM on social media for more stories.
What do you like about working at Tetra Tech?
I appreciate the dual strengths of working with a local group that is extremely talented and functions like a start-up but with the full technical and operational support of a large company such as Tetra Tech. Our team is encouraged to take initiative and provide direction that best serve our clients with the knowledge that an enormous amount of support and resources are available to us.
How can we encourage female students to pursue a career in engineering?
The greatest ways we can encourage female students to pursue a career in engineering are to demonstrate the critical value that engineering disciplines have within every facet of society, provide them the tools and support to pursue a career in engineering, and identify mentors and advocates to empower and teach emerging engineers.
How do you define your success as an engineer?
Success, as a water resources engineer, is defined by the level of our client’s satisfaction. Engineers make the client’s life easier, whether that means developing an innovative model to quickly assess large-scale conditions, streamlining operations at a facility, or creating web applications to display monitoring and progress in a useful manner. Engineers are technically capable of accomplishing any assignment, but if there are no effective or useful tools or deliverables associated with the task, clients will not be able to understand the project’s worth.
What projects are you most proud of?
I led a team that pioneered the first high-resolution, fully integrated watershed master plan for the City of San Diego’s Chollas Creek Watershed to identify project-by-project priorities to meet water quality, flood control, and stream restoration needs in a highly urbanized and constrained watershed. Our team developed the modeling, prioritization, integration, and tracking mechanisms that are now being leveraged city- and region-wide.
What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of being an engineer?
Engineering, by definition, means to “design, build, and use.” The most challenging and rewarding aspect of engineering is the need to continuously address new and emerging issues and develop impactful solutions to meet evolving regulatory and environmental needs. Constant learning and growth keep the field exciting.
