Title: Consulting Mechanical Design Engineer

Company: Solar Turbines, Volt

Location: San Diego, Calif.

Theresa Medina chose her career path in mechanical design engineering because her father was an auto mechanic, which influenced her interest in wanting to pursue a career in mechanical engineering design. In high school, she took a lot of math and science classes, as well as shop classes to make sure that she wanted to pursue a career in engineering. Now, Ms. Medina serves Solar Turbines, Volt as consulting mechanical design engineer, drawing upon her greatest strengths: persistence, detail orientation, perseverance, and organization management.

As a female in a male dominated industry, Ms. Medina had to work twice as hard to prove herself, especially because she began her career in the early 1980’s. Her greatest accomplishment is being very proud of the students she influences to pursue a career in engineering; she derives a sense of satisfaction when she sees them in the workplace. Ms. Medina plans to continue working on a consultant basis, as this allows her to take on projects that are more interesting. For example, in her consulting capacity Theresa is currently working on upgrading older turbine engines because the younger engineers are not familiar with them.