MEYER BORGMAN JOHNSON

Marsha has always enjoyed building things and working with her hands, from playing with LEGO to discovering that physics explained “the math for how the world works.” 

As a structural engineer, she designs the parts of buildings that keep them from falling down and make them safe for people to go inside, and she especially enjoys working with creative architects, solving problems, and seeing projects take shape at construction sites. When she was growing up, Marsha played a lot of soccer and did a lot of reading. These are still two of her favorite hobbies! 

Her tip for you: Even if you’re not good at something the first time but you enjoy it, keep going. When you find something that is challenging but that you enjoy, stick with it. Don’t give up. 

DONALDSON

Stuti’s interest in engineering began during a visit to her uncle’s factory, where she was fascinated by how small rubber particles could be transformed into different parts.

Today, she helps Donaldson make new filters with new features for tomorrow. “Imagine you are sitting in a bus for a family trip, our company ensures you breathe in clean air in the cabin.” 

As a child, Stuti enjoyed puzzles, sudoku, and board games. Now you might find her in the first row of an adventure ride at an amusement park! 

Fun fact: “I am ambidextrous. I can do almost anything with both hands except writing.” 

CITY OF ROSEVILLE

Jennifer works for the City of Roseville, where she’s responsible for making sure the roadways and sidewalks are safe for you and your family to get to work, school, and anywhere else you want to go. She also helps get clean water to your sink and get the dirty water from your drain and toilet to a building where it is cleaned before it goes back into a river or lake. 

As a child, Jennifer competitively danced, played soccer and basketball, and liked art and photography. She loved animals and for a long time she wanted to be a vet. 

Fun fact: I still love animals - my family has a 23-year-old cat named Emma, a rabbit named BunBun, and two baby rats named Kerby
and Samuel.

ANDERSEN CORPORATION

Sara’s interest in engineering started in 4th grade. She had an assignment to build an invention, and she decided to make an automated ping pong ball serving machine. “I had so much fun designing and building it with my dad, it was a great way to be creative and use engineering skills at the same time!” Today, she works at Andersen, where they make windows and doors that go into homes, schools, or even your favorite store. Sara doesn’t make the windows, but she helps make the work easier for her coworkers that do. 

Fun fact: “I love the State Fair! Whether its playing eco bingo at the eco building or getting an apple freeze from the Horticulture building, I love to learn about Minnesotans and our great state!” A mentor once told her, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. You may need to use a different tool, but you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.” That advice stuck with her, and she wants to share it with you. 

TEL

Mikaela’s middle school science teacher inspired her to pursue a career in STEM. “She took us on a field trip to go tide pooling by the ocean and we got to learn about different animals and how they live in such a dynamic environment. That really inspired me to be more curious about the world around me and to start asking more questions about how things work.” 

Mikaela works at TEL, a company that makes the big machines that make computer chips, which are the “brains” of a computer that control how it works. As a process engineer, I spend a lot of my days at work in our cleanroom lab, which is very fun! I like that I get to work hands-on with the large machines my company manufactures and run experiments all day. 

Fun facts about Mikaela: “My favorite color is green, my favorite animal is a turtle, my favorite board game is Clue, my favorite movie is the Sound of Music, and I love swimming, running, camping, hiking, rock climbing, reading, and painting! 

COLDER PRODUCTS COMPANY

Vanessa grew up exploring fishing, electronics,
RC planes, video games, and music with her parents, which sparked her keen interest in how things work. 

Today, Vanessa works at CPC, a company that designs and builds easy to connect plugs for gas or liquid that are used around the world, from Artemis II to the Marianas Trench. In her job, she gets to do engineering forensics (investigating why things failed) and plan the best test to help choose materials for the connectors. 

A fun fact about Vanessa: her favorite food is cheese. All cheeses - fancy cheese, dessert cheese, easy cheese, and mac & cheese. Also, her favorite Roblox games are Don’t Press the Button, Build a Pet, and the Kitten Game. 

Her advice to you: “Explore as much as possible to find out what you enjoy.  Try some things more than once to be sure.  To be really sure, test it three times.” 

COLLINS AEROSPACE

As a child, Lindsey loved to build contraptions and come up with new ways of doing things, such as designing a pulley system to get things from the swing set to the deck or building a boat out of sticks on the beach. “When I was 10, I was building a dam at the beach and someone came by and said I should be an engineer when I grow up. At the time, I didn’t know what an engineer was, but as I got older and learned about engineering, I realized that was exactly what I wanted to do!” 

Now she works for a company that builds parts for airplanes. She says: “Our job ensures that people can fly safely.” She loves working on exciting new technologies and designing things that don’t currently exist. One thing she wants you to know is, “STEM/engineering is not about whether you like math. It’s about being able to think creatively and solve complicated problems.” 

Fun facts about Lindsey: Her favorite childhood books were The Boxcar Children, Series of Unfortunate Events, and Hatchet, and her favorite color is purple. 

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA NANO CENTER

As a child, Claire was always interested in science and loved being outside, asking questions, and figuring out why things happened the way they did. She started beekeeping with her dad, and that led her to go into science and engineering. 

Now she works at the Minnesota Nano Center, a lab space that engineers use to do research, working with materials that are smaller than a speck of dust. Claire says, “We have special rooms and machines that let them make and study super tiny things. And my job is to help people learn about all the cool things they’re building!” Her advice to you: Never stop being curious or asking questions!

USDA ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE (APHIS)

Stephan is a veterinarian, but she doesn’t spend her days treating dogs and cats. She’s more like a disease detective, solving mysteries that affect animals, farms, and people. Stephan says, “I help figure out why animals are getting sick, how diseases spread, and what we can do to protect animals, farmers, and people. I look for clues, ask questions, study data, and work with a team to solve problems.” She likes knowing that the science she does makes a difference far beyond just one animal. 

Her advice to you: Stay curious! You don’t have to know exactly what you want to be when you grow up. Ask questions, try things, make mistakes, and try again. STEM isn’t just about getting the right answer—it’s about being curious enough to ask, “What if?” 

Fun facts about Stephan: She loves reading, cooking, photography, and exploring the outdoors. She recently learned to ice skate! 

MEDTRONIC

Delani works for Medtronic, where they make tools that doctors use to help people feel healthy again. She is a cardiac mapper who works with doctors to treat heart arrhythmias, which is when a heart beats too fast, too slow, or differently than it’s supposed to. 

Delani makes live 3D maps of the heart so doctors can see where they are and find what needs to be treated to help the heart work better. 

About her work, she says, “I get to blend my love of engineering and medicine to solve problems every day, and my work helps fix people’s hearts so they can feel better and be able to do the things they love!”