0:20

I was talking to Kim and she said that you were

0:22

the worst when it came to tapping the table

0:24

. Kim who Never going to tell you her last name

0:26

. You'll never find out . Yeah

0:30

, she's like you can tell that it's Mike tapping and

0:32

I was like , yeah , you should see the glares that

0:34

I shoot him . So we're doing

0:36

a belated engineer week Every

0:39

week , Maybe every week .

0:41

Exactly Do you celebrate engineers week ? You're

0:43

both engineers . Do you do anything special ?

0:45

Did you bake a cake ? You know what I

0:47

used to , really I did

0:49

. Really .

0:51

One of these organizations . I used to run engineers

0:54

week and so we used to have all these

0:56

activities throughout the week . So in my

0:58

mind I still go oh , happy

1:00

engineers week , and then I just kind of quietly

1:02

celebrate .

1:03

Can you tell us a little bit about engineer

1:05

week ? What do you know about it ? Why

1:07

do we ? Why is it a thing ?

1:09

So national engineers

1:11

week Now ? First of all , it's scheduled

1:13

to correspond with president's

1:16

day , because president

1:18

George Washington was an engineer

1:20

. So what

1:22

I'm thinking ? This is a story

1:24

that I kind of remember .

1:26

So I know , Wait , look it's on this

1:28

fact sheet that you printed off for us .

1:29

Oh , look at that .

1:30

You're totally right .

1:32

And for , and for , and for and for yeah

1:34

. For his survey work .

1:36

And so for years now this

1:39

is where you'll probably get me wrong , I don't know how many years

1:41

, but there is a

1:44

movement to celebrate national engineers week

1:46

, and so every year they come up with a campaign

1:48

and they built into , like

1:50

national

1:53

girls engineering day . They

1:55

have like all these subsets of national

1:57

engineers week highlighting

1:59

the careers of engineers , because you know

2:01

we're cool , right I ?

2:03

think so .

2:04

You know , come on the engineers , we

2:06

are .

2:09

Bars look pretty low .

2:12

So um . Or hi , D'Venille , how you looking at it

2:14

, yeah yeah , so it's just been

2:17

um , something that's been going

2:19

on for a number of years . People , there's a lot

2:21

of activities , there are a lot of organizations

2:23

that do something special . Um

2:26

really get across

2:28

to individuals that engineers

2:30

are in the world Right , both

2:32

claim .

2:33

It seems like a lot .

2:35

So there's like an exercise that I used to do

2:37

and I used to go into schools and I used to talk

2:40

to kids about engineers and what

2:42

do they do , and I go , okay , so

2:44

just run me through the exercise

2:46

of what you do in the morning . Just

2:48

what do you ? What's the first thing you do in the morning ? And

2:51

someone says I get out the bed . I'm like

2:53

we know an industrial engineer was

2:55

responsible for the design of that bed and

2:57

the textiles , the linens that's on

2:59

there is also touched

3:01

by an engineer . So what do you do next ? And

3:04

someone goes I turn off the

3:06

alarm clock . Oh , wow , you know you

3:08

try to go into the story that

3:11

everything that is touched

3:13

has been touched by an engineer

3:16

. I mean , the students get to the

3:18

bathroom , right , they go . I go

3:20

use the bathroom . Well , guess what

3:22

? The toilet was designed by

3:24

an industrial engineer . And then you go

3:26

into . You know there's hydraulics . So

3:28

there's a mechanical engineer

3:31

involved , hydraulics . And guess what

3:33

do you do with the water when it goes ? I

3:35

don't know . Well , you know it's something

3:37

that you know . It's really highlighted

3:40

during that week .

3:41

We wanted to invite a couple of

3:43

our own engineers here at the sewer district to talk

3:45

about how they got into

3:47

the field . All the different kinds of engineers

3:50

that there are talk about

3:52

how your careers have taken perhaps

3:54

different paths from when you started out or what you

3:56

originally thought you'd be engineering

3:58

and where you are today . So let's do some introductions

4:01

. What do you ?

4:01

think Sure Rick

4:04

.

4:05

Rick introduce yourself Rick .

4:06

Introduce yourself .

4:07

I'm Rick Vincent . Here at the district

4:09

I am the collection

4:12

system design manager , which

4:14

means I manage a group of engineers

4:16

who are managing a lot of our

4:18

projects out in the our collection

4:20

system , which consists of all the sewers and

4:22

tunnels and all that kind of fun stuff

4:24

being in the engineering

4:27

and construction department . We

4:29

get pulled into a lot of different things at the sewer district

4:32

Reviewing plans that

4:34

come in from developers in and around

4:36

the the community , doing

4:39

some outreach to

4:41

folks in the community as it relates to

4:43

our projects and giving people informed

4:46

, stuff like that . And then

4:48

, because the sewer district is great , we

4:50

get to we all get to do lots of fun

4:53

things and I enjoy personally enjoy

4:55

being involved

4:57

in sort of the social justice

5:00

type issues that are

5:02

related to our projects environmental

5:04

justice and

5:07

other sort of DE&I aspects

5:09

that are related to our projects . So

5:11

I'm personally passionate about that , so I try

5:13

to bring that into our designs as well .

5:16

Angela .

5:17

Yeah , so Angela Jones

5:19

, government affairs specialist

5:22

too here at the district

5:24

I've been in for over 14 years . My

5:28

role here is

5:30

kind of like

5:33

a liaison

5:35

role because I work with elected

5:37

officials and key

5:39

stakeholders and kind of help them

5:42

understand the work that we do . And then I also

5:44

work with my engineering

5:46

and construction partners and

5:48

go through the design

5:51

and the construction side of the projects

5:53

to fully be able to articulate

5:55

that to the community and kind of

5:57

be that voice . You know I'm the interceptor

6:00

, so I get the calls

6:02

of my house

6:04

is about to fall down to . You

6:07

know you crack

6:09

my sidewalk or because of the

6:11

work and my roles , to kind

6:13

of mitigate all that and to

6:15

make sure that we are

6:17

timely and

6:20

not

6:22

always reactive

6:24

but also proactive and

6:26

in engaging with our customers . My

6:29

background is in civil engineering , so

6:31

I started off my career as a

6:33

design engineer , designing

6:37

water and wastewater treatment plants .

6:38

Oh , you started off with water right away .

6:40

I did I did . Working with

6:42

a private

6:46

global engineering firm and

6:48

just being able to work

6:51

with a team of engineers to provide

6:53

a solution for their problems

6:55

, and so being in

6:57

a position to be able

7:00

to have that liaison kind

7:02

of role that I am now with those

7:04

firms , just led me to my opportunities

7:06

and kept opening up doors . And now I'm here

7:08

at the district .

7:10

Did you always have the idea

7:12

that you wanted to be more of a liaison

7:16

role as opposed to actually designing ?

7:18

I really had

7:20

no . True , this is what

7:22

I want to do . Right In

7:25

high school I went to a special math

7:27

and science program that

7:29

exposed us to the engineering world

7:32

, right I mean . But

7:34

I didn't have anybody in my family

7:36

that was an engineer , so I didn't know what it looked

7:38

like . So

7:40

my parents I thank them

7:42

for just putting me in position , putting

7:44

me where I can take

7:46

advantage of programs that

7:49

expose me to the

7:51

possibilities . And then , once

7:53

I got in , I kind of navigated

7:56

through . You know what I liked

7:58

and what I didn't like . I never forget I

8:01

shadowed some architects because I first I

8:03

kind of thought I wanted to design houses and

8:05

so I went and shadowed an architect's office

8:08

and I was like , oh , I'm about to

8:10

die , it was so boring . And

8:13

in my I probably no shame to the architects , because

8:15

I've got a lot of architect friends I've

8:17

always had this notion of giving

8:19

back . So my father , you

8:22

know he worked for the post office for years but he was

8:24

active in his his

8:27

ward block club meetings . You

8:30

know he assisted his friends

8:33

when they were running for campaigns . So

8:35

I've always just been naturally

8:37

predestined to just kind of give

8:39

and do and so , and

8:42

sometimes being in engineering . Being

8:45

an engineer , if you're not put in the right role

8:47

you don't get that opportunity . Well

8:49

, fortunately it kind of worked out

8:52

. The private firm I used to work for

8:54

needed someone who was a little bit more

8:57

engaged in than the guys and girls . I

8:59

just got to sit behind the computer and

9:01

I just kind of was able to kind of show that

9:03

side and know

9:06

that my

9:08

whole purpose , or my sole purpose

9:10

in life is to make sure

9:12

that the younger generation has

9:16

that exposure to be an engineer

9:18

so they can see that possibility in themselves

9:20

.

9:21

Do you think it's a field that kids don't naturally

9:23

learn about

9:25

, or you're trying to shut some

9:27

light on it and make it , yes , an opportunity

9:30

?

9:30

Some of the engineers . It's not the coolest

9:32

, you know it's not cool , it's not sexy

9:34

. It just depends on what your definition for sexy

9:36

is right . For

9:39

me , the opportunity of

9:41

seeing what you

9:43

do impact the community as a

9:45

whole right away is

9:48

really fulfilling . You

9:50

know the work that we do . You just can't see it all

9:52

the time so we got to show it

9:54

to them . We got to make it cool , we

9:57

got to make it sexy , we got to give it a possibility

10:00

and give it a face .

10:03

Rick , what about you ?

10:06

So in high school I always heard math and science . Used to be

10:08

an engineer . That was about the

10:10

extent of it . My

10:13

dad was a public employee

10:15

in the state of Rhode Island and

10:17

he was a planner , so that was the closest thing to

10:19

engineer . He was a city planner

10:21

in our city when I was growing up and then he transferred to

10:23

the state . I kind of knew that it was

10:25

going to be engineering . I probably wanted to do civil engineering

10:28

just kind of . But

10:31

I'm sorry , dad , if you'll listen to this

10:33

, but I'm way better at math and science than my dad

10:35

ever was . So

10:38

that's why I went engineering as opposed to city planning

10:40

and he was more of a history major , but anyway

10:43

. So I started out as a

10:45

structural engineer . I have a degree in structural engineering

10:47

and my journey kind

10:50

of was influenced by the employer that

10:53

I ended up working for . I was a co-op

10:55

at a firm called SphereDrip , which

10:57

doesn't exist anymore . They were

10:59

big into railroad engineering

11:02

, civil engineering of

11:04

roadways , but also tunnels and

11:07

bridges . And I graduated

11:09

from college I was like I'm a structural engineer , I want to design

11:11

bridges . I came out of college and

11:13

I was like I

11:15

put in a group and

11:18

I designed my first bridge . I was super

11:20

excited . It was on Martha's Vineyard . It

11:23

was a tiny little 50-foot bridge that

11:25

was just . It connected

11:28

the sort of the island of Martha's Vineyard

11:30

to the other island , Chilmark . That was like

11:32

on the very eastern end or northern end

11:34

, I think . So you know, but

11:36

perfect little assignment for an entry-level engineer

11:38

. I literally took a homework

11:41

assignment from one of my classes

11:43

to design that bridge . I literally just

11:45

plugged and chugged and

11:49

Plugged and chugged ?

11:51

That's a little terrifying . I know we're all adults here and so we know

11:53

that none of us know what we're doing , but

11:56

that's terrifying .

11:58

Well , he knew what he was doing

11:59

No back then I was good at calc and stuff

12:02

, and it was a precast concrete

12:04

box , girder , bridge , where it was pre-stressed

12:07

, which means that the rebar in

12:09

there , they pull it and

12:11

then they cast the concrete around it and they release it

12:13

. And so that rebar is intentioned

12:16

when it's cast around it and it bonds to

12:18

that rebar , so it puts it automatically

12:21

, puts that concrete beam into compression

12:23

before it's used , so

12:25

it's already pre-stressed . And then

12:27

you put it down on the roadway and

12:29

when the load hits on it it nets out

12:31

that stress and it makes it more

12:33

efficient . It makes that beam more efficient . So

12:37

basically it's like building the load

12:39

into it but the other direction of what it needs

12:41

to be , so it brings up the capacity

12:43

of the beam Anyway . So I literally had pre-stressed

12:46

concrete assignments in college

12:48

and all I had to do was change the dimensions . But

12:50

the point of telling that story is that it was super boring .

12:53

It goes back to like I'm not going to keep .

12:55

You got the ones that challenged you .

12:55

It was so easy . It was like I did the drawings

12:58

too , I did the CAD , I did everything , and

13:00

it was so cookie cutter

13:02

where I

13:04

could just do that again , and

13:06

all the bridges that I would foresee

13:08

myself doing were all kind of ODOT-type

13:11

bridges or , in this case , M-DOT

13:15

Massachusetts . So do this

13:17

again and again , and again , and again . And some engineers

13:19

love that . Some engineers want to just kind of repeat , and

13:21

that was not me , so luckily

13:25

, because at that time that company

13:27

had huge tunnel

13:29

projects . They had one , a bunch of tunnel projects . They

13:31

had the Big Dig , they

13:37

had the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority water

13:39

tunnel , which were these big water

13:42

supply tunnels , for that was supply water to Boston

13:44

and the tunnel group needed help

13:46

. And so I was relocated out of the structural

13:48

group with the bridges and into the tunneling underground

13:51

group and I luckily

13:53

got a mentor who taught

13:55

me how to do tunnels . I did not learn tunnels in college Nobody

13:57

really does Very few and

14:00

I loved it because every tunnel is different

14:02

, no matter where you are , like

14:04

you can go , even within Cleveland

14:06

, you can go from one side of the block to another

14:09

side of the block . You've got to design that tunnel differently

14:11

because the ground is different , because the ground

14:13

is your lining . That's how

14:15

tunnel engineering works . So you have

14:17

to study the ground , the materials of the ground , and

14:19

use that to design your tunnel

14:22

. I love that because you can also

14:24

be a little creative . There weren't a lot of codes written

14:26

about it another terrifying thing but

14:28

you used existing concrete codes . You

14:30

used the material codes that were there , but

14:33

the code to design a bridge , there's tons

14:35

of codes . I mean it's like

14:37

it's volumes and volumes of codes that

14:39

have been and it's just too

14:43

stringent . But with tunnels you

14:45

could be creative , because you've got to get down there

14:47

, you've got to get around certain things to get

14:49

there , you've got to be creative . Well , contractors are

14:51

creative . Contractors are really creative

14:53

in it . You had to really understand the

14:56

business of construction to

14:58

design a tunnel and I love construction

15:00

. So it really got me into that

15:02

mindset of how

15:04

is this going to get built ? Because you have

15:06

to understand that to design this tunnel , design

15:09

the shaft to get down there , all of that stuff , and

15:11

there's different ways to do it . I love the

15:13

fluidity of it , the flexibility of it

15:15

, and then the challenge of trying

15:17

to put together drawings and specifications

15:20

that actually allowed for that fluidity , allowed

15:22

for the flexibility . So it suited me

15:24

really really well . I was an artist in

15:27

high school too , so that

15:29

sort of like that side blended well , that

15:31

creative side of my personality

15:33

blended well with this side of engineering , like

15:36

drawing , drawing , yeah , yeah

15:38

, mostly drawing . I hated painting but

15:40

I love to draw .

15:43

To a point you just made about tunnels , would you say

15:45

that the ground

15:47

that you tunnel in is actually part of the tunnel

15:49

?

15:50

It is the tunnel , the ground is

15:52

the tunnel . I

15:54

mean . So if you pick

15:56

any tunnel , the ground

15:59

around it is what preserves that tunnel , because

16:01

the earth pressure is

16:03

your friend . It puts especially

16:06

a round tunnel right . Most tunnels are round but some

16:08

of them are rectangular . But the round tunnel

16:10

is in hoop compression right

16:12

. So the ground pushes

16:14

on that tunnel and keeps it in compression , keeps those

16:16

forces in the lining locked in , but

16:18

not so rigidly

16:21

that the lining of that tunnel

16:23

can't move . Sort of imperceptively

16:25

move , but like the force is

16:27

like in an earthquake . If you have an earthquake

16:29

you really don't worry too much about tunnels , because

16:32

in earth moving the

16:34

tunnel's going to move with the ground . You

16:37

worry about things that are up above the ground because the ground's

16:39

moving like this , but the thing up above the ground doesn't want to go

16:41

, it's already fixed , and then the ground

16:43

moves below it . They're like what's happening , shimmying

16:46

?

16:46

below you . They're missing a lot of good batting options

16:48

for those last years . But anyway

16:51

.

16:51

So the ground is your tunnel is the point you

16:55

really have to understand . That's the material you're working with . You've

16:57

got to be able to put that lining in and

16:59

preserve and lock in those ground

17:02

forces . So it's different everywhere

17:04

you go , even within

17:06

this building or this organization . All the tunnels we built

17:08

here , they're not all the same . You

17:11

can't take one design from one

17:13

and then move and just cut and paste it into

17:15

the other one . You have to start over and

17:17

look at the ground .

17:19

What's your favorite project that you've ever worked on ?

17:22

I used to work for Malcolm Perney , so we

17:24

were the lead design on

17:26

the Baldwin Water Works treatment

17:28

plant here in Cleveland . Oh , where's

17:32

that Baldwin Water Works right ?

17:33

on Fairhill . It's a beautiful

17:35

facility .

17:36

Oh my god . I mean , it's absolutely

17:38

gorgeous . You see the

17:41

top level . But once you get down and

17:43

you see the pipes and

17:45

what was designed , that was high

17:48

tech back then , which is still high tech

17:50

today . I got a chance to design

17:52

a stop log structure

17:56

, so where you can split the flow

17:59

of the filters right , and

18:03

so it was like , ok , we need you to figure this

18:05

out . And I'm like me , I need

18:07

to figure it out . Oh my god . And

18:09

so I did my research . The

18:12

guys showed me how to do it and I designed it

18:14

, they stamped it or whatever , and then they built

18:16

it . So every time I go out the Baldwin I

18:19

stand on top of it . I'm like this is my

18:21

stop log . So

18:24

I really lean into

18:26

my nerd side . I get excited about

18:29

all the projects that I'm a part

18:31

of . I love working

18:33

in this space and

18:35

I love the projects that we work on and everything

18:38

is just interesting . I had

18:40

a quick laugh when you were talking about your bridge design

18:42

and I just always

18:44

go back to my bridge design project . In school

18:46

we designed a cable state pedestrian

18:49

bridge over this lake at Ohio Northern

18:51

University and I am completely

18:53

obsessed with cable state bridges

18:55

. So everywhere I go , I'm looking

18:57

for this cable state bridge

18:59

and I'm like , oh , look at that

19:01

.

19:01

I will say that is probably the coolest type of bridge

19:04

. Cable state bridges are probably

19:06

among the . I was actually .

19:07

Can you say what that is ? Oh sorry .

19:09

So that's when ? Yeah , non-engineers over here .

19:12

Yeah , so a good example would be the Golden Gate

19:14

Bridge . So

19:16

you've seen that one . So it's basically the

19:19

deck is supported by cables and

19:22

the main supporting elements are cables that

19:24

go open over a tower

19:26

of some kind , and that design

19:29

, bringing it up and over those

19:32

towers , is actually an efficient design

19:34

. The curvature of

19:36

that cable it's not just pretty , it actually

19:39

has a purpose . And

19:42

I don't remember all the details anymore , it's been too many years

19:45

for me .

19:45

It has a great cable state .

19:46

Well , I was going to say so . I get to work on the

19:48

. So that was part of the big dig

19:50

portion that I worked on , but it wasn't the

19:52

bridge itself . So this is the largest

19:54

. At least back in the late 90s

19:57

, early 2000s , the largest asymmetric

19:59

cable state bridge in the world was

20:01

on the big dig . I mean , you hear a lot of bad

20:03

news about the big dig , but there were a lot

20:06

of firsts on the big dig . The first

20:08

use of slurry walls which we use on all our

20:10

shafts today . The first use of slurry walls as a permanent

20:12

support element . Those are the walls of the tunnel

20:14

.

20:15

Can you say what a slurry wall is ?

20:16

Slurry wall is a . It's

20:19

basically a concrete wall

20:21

that you build in the ground

20:23

before you excavate the ground . So

20:25

when you go down there the wall is already in place . So

20:27

you basically dig a trench and you install

20:30

concrete and rebar or concrete and

20:32

steel I-beams in the wall

20:34

from the surface down and you dig

20:36

these trenches at nine or 10 feet at

20:38

a time and

20:41

you fill the trench with slurry . Slurry is

20:43

a heavy water it's like made with bentonite Keeps

20:45

the trench open . And then you

20:47

pump concrete from the bottom to

20:49

the top of that trench and you just place the slurry

20:52

and replace it with concrete and then you let it

20:54

cast in the ground underground and

20:56

then you go down between

20:58

these slurry walls that you put one side of the other

21:00

and you can dig down in between them and

21:03

support the ground with those walls . So

21:06

the big dig did that and , yeah , use that

21:08

as part of the final

21:10

tunnel lining . And I designed a lot of the

21:12

connections , all the roof connections

21:14

, all the roof . So when I drive through the big day I look

21:17

up and I say I did all these beams , I designed

21:19

all these beams . My favorite job , from

21:21

its pure technical standpoint , is

21:23

this job I did out in California called

21:26

Slack Stanford Linear Accelerator

21:28

Center , and it was a tunnel that

21:31

was built for

21:33

literally splitting , so

21:36

cool . Oh

21:38

my gosh , and

21:40

I was working for that same company again . By then they

21:42

weren't sweardrip anymore . Jacobs Engineering

21:44

had bought them the

21:46

coolest requirement on that , which

21:48

I didn't think was cool at the time . But we found a way around

21:50

it . The base slab of that

21:52

tunnel , because of the atoms , because of the instrumentation

21:55

they were going to put in there and the laser they were going

21:57

to shoot , could not move more

21:59

than one micron , like the

22:01

slab couldn't move . And we

22:03

told them that's impossible . Basically it is . I mean

22:05

the ground from heat

22:07

, I mean from anything . It moves more than that . But

22:10

we found a way around it . They found a way to incorporate

22:13

it into the equipment itself as opposed to our work

22:15

.

22:15

Oh , so that it would adjust as the

22:17

ground .

22:18

Right . The technology that was going in there

22:20

was the brightest x-ray

22:22

beam like a billion

22:24

times brighter than anything on the planet so they could

22:27

do these experiments and they could shoot this laser

22:29

and hit the target for the experiment

22:31

without destroying the thing they were hitting . Normally

22:34

a laser you'd get one shot at it , you shoot

22:36

the thing it would destroy , but you'd get pictures right

22:38

before it was destroyed . This thing created

22:40

it hit a billion dollar mirror or something which

22:43

split the laser beam into an x-ray . Now

22:45

this is stuff , this is super cool stuff that

22:47

you hear about when you're building a tunnel yeah , nothing

22:49

to do with me , but

22:51

it hit the medium and it wouldn't destroy it so they could take longer

22:54

pictures . And somebody won a Nobel

22:56

Prize because of that facility

22:59

that we built .

23:00

Did you ? When the Nobel Prize guy

23:03

or woman went up , were they like ? I'd like

23:05

to thank Rick Vinton . No , simply , so

23:08

nobody knows about . To .

23:09

Angela's point earlier . Nobody knows about engineers

23:12

and what they do and the stuff that

23:14

allows people like that to have

23:16

that You're buying a tiny Nobel heroes ?

23:18

Are there things about working in the water

23:21

field that you wouldn't experience

23:23

with , for instance , building a bridge

23:25

or building a building ?

23:27

Right , I've always . I love

23:30

the water . You know , my sign

23:32

is it's an air sign but it's an aquarius

23:34

, so it's a water carrier , and

23:37

I've just always been predestined to be in

23:39

this space . And so when I graduated

23:41

from Ohio Northern and I took

23:44

a job up here in Cleveland , my

23:48

husband was like , well , what are you going to be doing ? I'm like I'm working

23:50

in water , and so that's all he

23:52

really knew . But it's just so fascinating

23:54

because you know , water being

23:57

the , we cannot

23:59

live without water . And

24:02

so to be working in the space that's responsible

24:04

for not only cleaning

24:06

it for you to drink , but also cleaning

24:08

it so we can return it back to

24:10

Mother Nature , so it can continue to be

24:12

used as it's

24:15

something .

24:16

There are a lot of similarities to other

24:18

sort of civil engineering disciplines

24:22

. In other disciplines you're worried about water

24:24

outside of things you know you're worried about getting

24:26

into space . In our world

24:28

. It's water staying in and keeping

24:30

the groundwater out , but also water , you know , keeping

24:33

water that we don't want to leak out

24:35

of our pipes right , unless it's

24:37

in the spot where we want it to come out .

24:39

I talked to one of the engineers one

24:41

of the city engineers and he's like yeah , you

24:43

guys have weird jobs because , as

24:45

a city , as like a developer when

24:47

he was a developer , he's like all you're

24:49

concerned about is how do you get the water off

24:51

the property as quickly as possible

24:53

?

24:54

Which is like what we don't want them to do . Right

24:56

, we want them to like hold and maintain and

24:58

do water quality measures and water ?

25:01

quantity measures .

25:02

And so it's funny . It's totally true .

25:04

Yeah , but I mean civil engineering , I'd say

25:06

in general , the commonality among it , and that's the reason

25:08

I liked it , because it's that you

25:12

do touch more people , you know

25:14

, with a civil engineering degree than you do

25:16

with maybe a mechanical or chemical , even

25:18

, or some of these other ones , electrical and

25:20

I think and that was what was appealing to me when

25:22

I was deciding which discipline to

25:25

choose when I was in college is I wanted

25:27

to do something that you know made the world

25:29

better and I figured all right , well , that's going

25:31

to touch more of the world than

25:33

maybe one you know widget in

25:35

a machine or something like that I

25:37

like this question , Mike .

25:38

What are some engineering accomplishments around

25:41

Cleveland that inspire you ?

25:42

Yeah , things you see around town , you're like oh

25:45

, okay , well

25:47

, I mean , I gotta give it to our projects .

25:49

I mean , I don't know Our tunnel projects

25:51

absolutely .

25:52

Yeah , I mean just the scale . Well , I

25:54

think you know it is hard to express like

25:57

how much goes into those projects , some of

25:59

the challenges that you face out in

26:01

the field , and you

26:03

know just Working

26:06

around things you know trying to , you

26:08

know lessen the impact to the surrounding

26:10

community . All of that takes a lot of effort

26:12

and when

26:14

you get done and you kind of look at , look around

26:17

, at like what you've built , it

26:19

is like massive . You guys also mentioned

26:21

our 100-year-old bricks , sewers . Oh

26:24

, yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , we've all seen pictures and you

26:27

know some of the , especially the bigger ones , like Wallworth

26:29

.

26:29

You know 16-foot dinosaur , and they just you

26:31

know still look great .

26:33

And the hand-built brick by brick 100-gears

26:35

funneled through , you know , under compressed

26:37

air probably . You know , back then they used compressed

26:40

air where they would just keep the ground from caving

26:42

in by just pumping air in there . Oh yeah , workers

26:45

would get the bends when they come out , and stuff like that

26:47

. I mean this is a dangerous dangerous work , so they're

26:49

just forcing air in there . Yeah , to keep the ground

26:51

, water and the ground from coming in , they would use compressed

26:53

air . You know it's an ingenious idea , except

26:56

that you had to like wait to come out and they didn't realize

26:58

why people were dying .

27:00

Yeah , I feel like it was just crush your skull .

27:03

No , it was not enough to hurt the people in

27:05

there because they would acclimate to it , but then they had to re-acclimate

27:08

coming out , oh , okay .

27:09

Wasn't that part of the one of the tunnel

27:12

warring machines had to have like a decompression

27:14

area ? All of the warring machines in soil

27:16

have to have that .

27:18

The tunnel we're digging right now is Shrulline Storage

27:20

Tunnel . It's , you know , going to probably mine out in

27:22

about a month from now . That one has

27:24

at the front of the machine

27:26

, the chamber behind

27:28

the cutter head that cuts the soil has

27:31

a pressurized chamber and

27:33

that's to counterbalance the pressure that the ground

27:35

wants to come in through , you know . So you're trying

27:38

to keep the soil and the water from coming in

27:40

, but you're , behind that chamber

27:42

is free air . It's

27:44

like we are sitting here now . So

27:46

if we have to go and maintain the head of that

27:48

machine , we open the door . It's

27:50

like a you know what do

27:52

they call it , like a diver's door or whatever and

27:55

they go in there and they work on it , but they have to wait

27:57

to come out and they have to decompress and then wait

27:59

, you know . So it takes extra time to go in there

28:01

and do work and they can only be in there for a certain amount of time

28:03

under that pressure , because

28:06

you don't want to lose that pressure and you don't want the soil

28:08

to start coming in through that chamber and lower the

28:10

pressure . So you have to keep it up . So , yeah

28:12

, so that technology is still used , but it's much

28:14

safer .

28:15

It's not like everywhere , you know . Yeah

28:17

, that's cool .

28:19

Part of your job , Angela , especially in somewhat

28:22

the work you do , the outreach work is to

28:24

encourage the next generation of

28:26

engineers . Is there a shortage

28:28

of engineers ? Absolutely

28:31

.

28:31

There is a shortage . Wow

28:33

, I should have had those statistics with me . There's

28:36

a shortage of engineers . There's a shortage

28:38

of minority engineers and

28:41

the shortage of women engineers . A

28:45

lot of kids don't want to take the time

28:47

to learn the math and science which is the foundation

28:49

of being an engineer

28:52

, or it's not cool , it's not sexy

28:54

, so they really don't get into it . The

28:56

National Society of Black Engineers has

28:58

a campaign to

29:00

increase the number of minority

29:03

engineers by 25,000 in

29:05

a period of time , and

29:07

so they're being very aggressive

29:10

to making sure that the

29:12

exposure is given to the

29:14

young kids at a young age , because

29:16

there's research

29:18

that has shown if a

29:20

kid does not start

29:23

advancing , advancing

29:25

in math by like the

29:27

sixth grade , they won't be on a

29:29

path to take advantage of

29:32

engineering careers . And so it's

29:34

this big push to make sure you

29:36

know to share with students

29:38

, you know the opportunities , and

29:40

so they'll continue to progress in

29:43

their math classes at an earlier

29:45

age . So once they finish

29:47

high school they're

29:49

in a position to take advantage of

29:51

the classes needed to be an engineer

29:54

. So you got to catch them young so

29:56

you can get them through that entire pipeline

29:58

. I'm not saying if you didn't have

30:00

any of the math when you graduated from high

30:02

school that you can't do

30:04

it . You can , it's just a little

30:06

longer journey to get there .

30:09

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the ACE program

30:12

that the sewer district is part of right . So

30:14

that's the architecture , construction and engineering mentorship

30:17

program that both Angela and I Angela

30:19

was the founder of it here at the sewer district . I

30:22

got involved when I joined and it's a great program

30:24

to raise awareness , at the high

30:26

school level at least , of those

30:29

fields by going into the schools

30:31

and serving as volunteer mentors

30:33

and kind of doing activities and

30:35

a project that shows the students

30:37

what it's like to do an engineering and

30:41

then there's a competition at the end .

30:43

Yeah . So

30:45

it's raising that awareness , though , even to

30:48

those who have had that , because

30:50

maybe they're choosing , maybe

30:52

, like you said before , a doctor , a lawyer or whatever that's

30:54

what we all heard growing up , also

30:57

engineering , and this is what it's like A

30:59

teacher in high school that shared with me that

31:02

, going back to your purpose , find something

31:04

that you're passionate

31:06

about and then pair

31:09

that with being an engineer , and then

31:12

you know as long as engineers . So , sorry

31:14

. I wanted to be a smarty

31:16

right . I

31:19

said , well , I love to eat , Right

31:21

, and he said , well , you know what ? You

31:23

should look into ? Chemical engineering , Because

31:26

then you can get involved in

31:28

the process

31:30

of making food and making

31:32

food last longer , or

31:35

the whole thing . And

31:37

I was like , oh , I'm

31:39

going to school to be a chemical engineer , but

31:41

it's just that simple . We're fortunate here

31:43

at the sewer district . They have invested over

31:46

the years and several

31:48

student programs

31:50

to share and expose

31:52

youth to STEM based careers

31:54

. So we have the Cleveland Step

31:56

program for sixth through ninth

31:59

graders that we take on tours

32:01

around the city to expose them with you

32:04

know possible careers

32:06

and we make sure that they see

32:08

some engineers in the mix of all that so

32:10

they can get that exposure

32:12

and kind of begin to see themselves

32:15

as that person

32:18

. And then , of course , the ACE program . That's

32:20

for we're now at Garrett Morgan High

32:22

School on our team this year's

32:25

project . They have

32:27

reimagined Burke Lakefront Airport

32:30

. Oh fantastic , oh it is the coolest thing .

32:31

Are they going to give to the city of Cleveland and be like you don't need

32:34

your master plan anymore , we did

32:36

it for you ?

32:36

They scrapped the whole airport notion

32:39

and they've got all these different components

32:41

.

32:41

I love that but it's so cool

32:43

.

32:43

It's so cool . It's good to see the kids kind

32:46

of get involved and when they understand

32:48

that you know , being an engineer

32:50

, you know you get a chance to dream

32:52

and then kind of take

32:54

that dream and make it into reality .

32:57

Right Very cool .

32:58

That's very , very cool .

33:00

Donna , I think we have an opportunity for a trivia question

33:02

. Oh yeah , I do .

33:10

Who is the patron

33:12

saint of engineers ?

33:13

Oh , you got that one .

33:15

Yeah , kind of timely

33:17

I would .

33:18

I would say that McDonald's

33:21

would also agree .

33:22

Oh , is there ? Are these hints

33:24

? Is it St Patrick or something like

33:27

that ? Well , I don't know .

33:28

Based on Mike's hint , that was totally figured

33:31

out a way to get rid of all those snakes . Isn't

33:33

that what St Patrick didn't

33:36

chase ? Yeah , with the staff , or something .

33:38

Okay . Next question Pi

33:41

day is coming up . How

33:43

many digits of Pi do you

33:46

have memorized ?

33:47

Oh , not

33:53

many . 3.14 . Is

33:56

it five ?

33:57

No , I've got the next three in my head

33:59

.

33:59

Yeah , it's 3.14159

34:02

something

34:06

.

34:06

That's as far as I got to , yeah , so okay , all

34:08

right , all right .

34:10

Rick Vincent Angela Jones . Thank you very

34:12

much for joining us Happy to In our

34:14

belated engineer week celebration

34:17

.