so I guess, to start. I grew up in Central Virginia and always interested in studying engineering. So I studied chemical engineering at the University of Virginia, graduated in 2015 with the Bachelor in science since then, spent several years working in the D C. Metro area, working in project management in the construction industry and now spent the past two years or so is a mechanical engineer and sort of program management manager for the Postal Service Working in the vehicle engineering fleet, Um, you So I guess, experiences that really shaped where I'm at right now today. I think one of the big things for me is I didn't spend enough time in my undergrad looking for a job, But I wanted once I graduated. So when I was able to get opportunity in Project Management, it was after I had been looking for several months after graduating and had taken the taking unnecessary time to really focus on getting a position while it's still an undergraduate. So it's definitely is not my first choice of career Beth, but definitely a real learning opportunity. Um, I think one of the biggest things that I've gained from that is that, you know, having I wanted to start in an industry being product design and engineering and not being able to get there had to work pretty hard at, um, kind of, in a way, mastering the interview in the job application process. So I have a lot of experience with that, which is good, but, um can be a tedious process. So I guess that's kind of the long and short of it. Um, Graduate Engineering wanted to be an engineer right out of school, but didn't spend enough time in college. Um, really focusing on making it happen right away.

I think you know, it's an engineer that some of the main things air just like your standard cad programs. So solid works and better things like that is what was obviously Microsoft office like using excel and word and things like that. We have some three d printing that we dio in our lab. So some of that software as well, um, you know, we have some really small pretty printers and some larger ones as well as just gonna using hands on equipment and machinery in the lab that we have. So you know anything from just your standard, uh, and drills to, you know, she compresses and thank God.

one of the biggest challenges that we face at working as a contractor. The Postal Service. One of the biggest challenges we face is, uh, budgetary cuts in constraints. So obviously sector that were no secret I mean, that that postal service this kind of tight on on funding sometimes So it can be difficult to get, uh, r and D projects off the ground. Um, but the biggest advice I could give PTO, you know, if your project ever gets cut for financial reasons, Obviously it's not. It's not a slight on your personal ability or anything like that is purely just a business decision. Um, and to kind of keep working and just keep pointing away and see if you can find a different avenue that may be cheaper, cost effective or, you know, leverages a different technology entirely.