Nontraditional Students Describe Their Roles in Engineering

Patricia Adkins

As a "thirty-something" woman, I do feel that I may be perceived as different from my younger classmates. This is, in part, due to the fact that I had been in the work force, in a difference career, for some time before I went back to school. I know some women in engineering positions who are perceived as abrasive and pushy, although they perform on a equal level with their male coworkers, who are considered aggressive and enthusiastic. Fortunately, I have not encountered this situation.

I would not hesitate to recommend engineering as a career choice for young women. I consider myself lucky to know many outstanding female instructors, administrators, and engineers already in the work force. These women are role models and have proven that it is possible for women to accomplish the goals they set in the field. - Patricia Adkins

Nakela Cook

Suddenly, I made the connection--a national holiday in celebration of the revolution. I read in my travel guide about an uprising in 1956 when Hungarian patriots rose up against control by the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics with a passion that was crushed by Soviet tanks and their leader's execution. In 1990, the Hungarian people fulfilled the aspirations of the previous generation, breaking away from the Soviet Union in a bloodless revolution.

However, the man in the long trench coat, whom I had mistaken as a guard standing over the grave, would have never called the holiday a celebration, but maybe more of a reminder that burned through his heart like the holes through the flags. As I stood ignorantly over the grave and struggled to understand the writing, the 50-year old man turned his head, coughed a little, and released a suppressed bellow--a cry that neither he, the rain, or the overcast fog of the day could conceal.

As I walked away, I thought about the struggles, the protests, the harsh beatings, the exiles, and the sacrifices. No longer was my trip to Eastern Europe a sight-seeing experience, but rather a learning experience. I wondered if this revolutionary was a family member of this grief-ridden gentleman, then realized that it really did not matter. To anyone who lived under the communist regime, I am sure the young man buried in that grave was a family member. I will never forget the look on that visitor's face, his silent dedication, his eyes fraught with emotion. Just as a hole was burned through each of those flags decorating the ground beneath the memorial, a hole burns the heart of every eastern European--a hole that marks the end of the past and a path to the new.

Paradoxically, it has taken my experiences in a foreign country to open my eyes to the conditions and needs of my own neighbors at home. My volunteer service work within Birmingham's inner city is providing a crucial component of my career training. Feeding the hundreds of homeless individuals at a soup kitchen in Woodlawn, one of Birmingham's poorest communities, has taught me to respect people from all divisions in life. Working at a shelter for women and children, I have struggled with the problems that besiege urban families and communities. Speaking to the youth of my church on the benefits of seeking options, making goals, and persevering despite obstacles has confirmed for me that my fulfillment in life is both social and scientific in nature.

This background, coupled with my experience in a country tormented by political and economic uncertainty, has fed my ambition to bridge the gap between impoverished communities and the highly technological health care available to the affluent. I view my current pursuits as a stepping stone to an encompassing career in social health care.

As a materials science and engineering student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), I have had the opportunity to work in biomaterials engineering laboratories in order to explore the integration of implant materials in human tissue. I have also been fortunate enough to learn, through class work and laboratory assignments, the importance and value of materials research in all disciplines. As an intern in the Radiation Oncology Department of UAB's Hospital, I witnessed the effects of materials science in the health arena. Materials were being selected to prevent radiation from reaching healthy human tissue in order to isolate the tumor being treated. At the same time, the material needed to be easily melted and cast to fit the individualized needs of the patients. I understood first hand the necessity for a technological background in materials science to discover toxic material environments for human tissue.

After witnessing the contribution of materials science in the daily health lives of individuals, I devoted my materials engineering degree to continued research beneficial for medical applications in the underserved inner cities. I want to provide not only high-quality medical care, but also hope, motivation, and inspiration among overlooked and misunderstood members of our society.

  However nontraditional my career branching from materials science and engineering may seem, it is ideal for me in that it combines my love for science with my desire for social equality, particularly in the distribution of high-quality health care.

- Nakela Cook

will graduate from Wayne State University in May 1995, with a Bachelor of Science degree in materials science and engineering. In addition to being a fulltime student, she is a wife and mother of two teenage children.

Nakela Cook

is a senior in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Alabama. After graduating in May 1995, she plans to continue on to medical school.