The Women’s Engineering Society established International Women in Engineering Day, now in its tenth year, to celebrate “the amazing work that women engineers around the world are doing to support lives and livelihoods every day.” It is Atmos Energy’s vision to be the safest provider of natural gas services, which aligns perfectly with the 2023 Women in Engineering Day theme: Make Safety Seen. In every division of the company and across our entire service area, dozens of women engineers live out Atmos Energy’s principles to Bring Out the Best in Others and Make a Difference in the communities we serve.

Jennifer Ries is a 21-year Atmos Energy veteran who credits her education as a mechanical engineer for learning to evaluate and solve problems and working with teams across the organization to implement and execute those solutions. “As vice president of pipeline safety, I lead teams that assess, maintain, and continually improve the safety of our system and our employees,” says Ries. “The technical knowledge I gained through my experience in engineering as well as compliance, operations, and regulatory – combined with the leadership skills I developed in various management roles – prepared me well to serve in my current enterprise leadership role.”

Ries also believes that an openness to learn coupled with a diversity of experiences helped her flourish professionally. “My career has been a jungle gym of opportunities,” she adds. “Many of these have developed because I was curious and willing to raise my hand, eager to learn and lead in areas outside of engineering.”

The importance of education, training, and diverse experiences are echoed by Vice President of Technical Services Tammy Espinoza. “My civil engineering degree from Texas A&M taught me to be a problem solver and was a great launching pad to a variety of opportunities,” Espinoza says. “Prior to joining Atmos Energy 10 years ago, I was an engineering consultant for 11 years and worked on a number of roadway, storm water, wastewater, and other public works projects. Coming to Atmos Energy with an understanding of and appreciation for project management was very helpful.”

Kimberly Winn began working at Atmos Energy in 1998, immediately after earning a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. As vice president of technical services, Winn enjoys approaching projects from a holistic perspective. “As I worked in various roles in the engineering organization at Atmos Energy, experience has taught me the importance of the technical side of our work along with the impact our projects will have on people, including our customers, the construction crews that will build these pipelines, and the teams that will operate and maintain the pipelines throughout their lifespan,” Winn explains. “In my current role, I offer those perspectives to our engineering team as they navigate their own projects. At the end of the day, the intent is to make a positive impact on our customers, employees, and the company as a whole.”

While the U.S. has seen an increase in the number of women entering STEM occupations, those gaps have been closed most quickly in life science applications such as biology. Meanwhile, women account for only 17 percent of engineers, according to the most recent data published by the Society of Women Engineers. And the percentage of female engineers fluctuates across disciplines, from 8 percent of petroleum engineers to 35 percent of environmental engineers, with specialties such as mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, civil engineers, and others falling somewhere in between those two ranges.

In the hopes of accelerating these trends and bringing more women engineers into the workforce, Manager of Engineering Services Allison James encourages young women considering an engineering career to follow their passion. “You will be most successful in your career when you are passionate about what you are doing. I’m passionate about people and helping people succeed within our business, and that is exactly what my position requires.”

Tammy Espinoza also offers her perspective on how to get started. “If you like solving problems and influencing the world around you in a positive way, keep looking into engineering as a career choice,” she says. “Find an engineer you can talk with or shadow for a day. There are many different types of engineers, which means lots of options to explore. If you are in college, pursue internships to gain real-world exposure and help refine what type of engineering career is best for you.”

“Choosing to become an engineer is one of the best decisions I ever made,” says Kimberly Winn. “It was challenging, and still is some days, but I have learned so much throughout my career and the collaboration of this job has been very rewarding. I truly feel like I have been able to make a positive impact on the people and the systems we support.”

Jennifer Ries adds, “As engineers, we take an oath to hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. As a natural gas professional, maintaining the safety of our system, the public and our employees is the most important thing we do. This year’s theme for Women in Engineering Day, ‘Make Safety Seen,’ is a fitting way to reinforce our commitment to safety through the PPE we wear, the gas systems we design, and the support we give operations. Safety should be seen in everything we do.”

Allison James agrees wholeheartedly with that sentiment. “’Make Safety Seen’ is how I live my life. I believe that if people see me set the example by promoting safety, they will be more likely to follow suit and work safely as well.”

“Engineering is not just sitting in front of a computer all day,” Espinoza concludes. “Most engineers solve complex problems with large teams of people. One of my favorite parts of this job is seeing a project develop from the idea phase all the way to construction and ultimately being used for the benefit of our customers.  It’s an incredible privilege to work with these teams and to be part of that process from start to finish.”

To learn more about joining Atmos Energy, including current job openings, benefits, growth and training, and our AtmoSpirit culture, please visit https://www.atmosenergy.com/careers/working-atmos-energy.