WOMAN ENGINEER

The Career Magazine for Entry-Level and Professional Women

WINTER 2008/2009

SQUEEZING ENERGY OUT OF SUNLIGHT, WIND, & ROCK

Women Engineers In The
Utility Sector Light Our Lights
By Katie McKy

Some work with the

sun, converting light
into electricity. Others
plumb the earth for
fossil fuels. Still
others use fission
to squeeze energy
from rock. Women
Engineers look every SHAWNTA (HORTON) SIVELLS, CASENERGY MEMBER
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER, DOMINION ENERGY
which way for energy,
extracting it from

space, the earth,
and even the breeze.
Their ingenuity keeps
our homes lighted,
our cars rolling,
and our factories
humming. Meet a few
of these resourceful
women, who find
natural resources
everywhere.
H
orton was nudged into engi-
neering when she was just an
eighth grader. She recalls, “In
middle school, I was recruited to be in
a program that promoted math and
sciences. Teachers took children with
good grades and put us there. In eighth
grade, a recruiter from Fort Valley State
University contacted me. It had a pro-
gram that was a mathematics, science,
and engineering academy in Georgia.
I got recruited for that program. We
went down to the university and they
introduced us to different kinds of
engineering and every summer after
that, I was part of that program because
I knew that that’s what I wanted to do.
I thought electrical engineering was
neat. They had us making phones and
doing all kinds of things that electrical
engineers do.”
Today, Horton is an electrical engineer
in engineering systems for Dominion
Energy www.cleansafeenergy.org at
the Kewaunee Nuclear Power south of
Green Bay, WI, but back when she was in
eighth grade, going away stretched her
in an unexpected way. She says, “I was
extremely shy and it helped develop me,
being in a place without your mom and
dad.”
But that stretching didn’t end. She
earned a bachelor’s of science degree
in electrical engineering at the Univer-

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WOMAN ENGINEER
The Career Magazine for Entry-Level and Professional Women
WINTER 2008/2009
SQUEEZING ENERGY OUT OF SUNLIGHT, WIND, & ROCK
Women Engineers In The Utility Sector Light Our Lights
sity of Nevada Las Vegas and was
stretched every which way. Horton
remembers, “Engineering is tough.
The entire time I was in school, I
was shocked by how hard it was.
It’s not like high school, where, if
you’re smart, you don’t need to
put a whole lot of effort into it.
You need a lot of perseverance. I
persevered because I knew I wanted
to be an engineer. No matter how
hard it is, stick with what you want
to do. If you have enough drive and
passion, you will finish it.”
Even today, challenges remain. “I’m
a female and I’m a female of color,
so people might be standoffish at
first, but when you get a chance
to speak, people will respect you,”
she declares. “I’m acknowledged
now, even though I’m often the
only female in the room. There’s
also an age difference. However, I
worked for my degree and it’s what
I always wanted to do. If I can make
it through my degree, everything
else is easy.”
And that age difference means
positions for aspiring engineers.
Horton says, “In the past, the
nuclear industry didn’t recruit
people straight out of college. You
didn’t meet a nuclear recruiter at
a college career fair. Most of the
seasoned nuclear work pool came
from the military. Almost everyone
I’ve talked to finished at least four
years in the military before going
to the nuclear field. So to a certain
extent, nuclear is new to my gen-
eration. Before there was no room
for new hires, but now it’s needed.
With nearly 40% of the tenured
“With nearly 40% of
the tenured workforce
retiring soon, a new wave
of employees needs to be
developed. Universities
are starting to rebuild/
build their nuclear
colleges and nuclear
employers are connecting
with university students…
People will always need
energy. The good thing
about this sector is that
it’s always growing.”
workforce retiring soon, a new wave
of employees needs to be devel-
oped. Universities are starting to
rebuild/build their nuclear colleges
and nuclear employers are con-
necting with university students.
Dominion is a prime example. We’ve
partnered with North Carolina AT&T
State University to peak students’
interest in the company and the
nuclear industry. I have a younger
brother graduating from that
school this December and now he
also wants to work in nuclear.”
And there’s more good news. Do-
minion embraces the new engineers.
“I felt really welcomed coming in,”
she recalls. “The company gives you
all the tools you need to succeed
and excel. It’s not just worried about
you sitting there and doing your
work. Dominion is concerned about
you as a person and I’ve experienced
that from the top down, from corpo-
rate to where I work.”
Dominion Nuclear employs about
4,000 people and has four nuclear
power plants, whereas there are
17,000 employees in the greater
company. And Horton’s job is safe-
ty. “I work on two of the systems
that protect the reactor and protect
the people and our environment,”
she explains.
Another thing that she likes about
her job is its security. “People will
always need energy. The good
thing about this sector is that it’s
always growing,” she notes.
Horton also likes the importance of
her work. “I feel good knowing that
I’m doing something that people
need. It’s not a selfish endeavor,”
she remarks.
In the end, Horton reiterates
how much nuclear needs women
engineers: “A lot of the people are
retiring. You’re needed here. It’s
not promoted enough how much
you’re needed and you can’t know
what you don’t know, but we need
you here in nuclear.”
And Horton believes that the United
States needs nuclear energy.
She is a member of The Clean and
Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy
Coalition), which is a large grass-
roots coalition that unites unlikely
allies across the business, environ-
mental, academic, consumer, and
labor community to support nuclear
energy.
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