Kaileen “Kai" 迈尔斯 isn’t afraid to do the unexpected.
6月, 迈尔斯 will leave Virginia to attend the United States Navy Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Rhode Island, where she will be one of the few female civil engineers in attendance.
“I think it's really interesting going to the Navy as an officer and as a female in civil engineering where there's less than 10% of females,”她说。. “I just also love trying things that are kind of unexpected, like putting myself in a position that a lot of people would not see.”
迈尔斯, set to graduate Saturday with a bachelor’s in civil engineering and a minor in environmental engineering, 学到了很多关于领导的课程吗, project management and straightforward communication over the past four years.
迈尔斯, whose father served in the Navy, was born at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. 这个家庭, 包括迈尔斯的双胞胎妹妹, 洁, 还有一个妹妹, 频繁搬家, 居住在加州, 佛罗里达, and Guam before settling in Virginia Beach. “I've been moving, pretty much from kindergarten to about fifth grade,”她说。. “我每三年搬一次家.”
迈尔斯参加了 州长STEM学院 at Landstown High School where she was introduced to engineering and robotics.
到了申请大学的时候, 迈尔斯’ mother offered practical advice on selecting a field of study. “The main thing she wanted us to learn was that if you're getting a college degree, to make sure you love it and that you apply yourself to it, and that you can see yourself using your degree,迈尔斯解释道.
迈尔斯 earned an associate degree in engineering from Tidewater 社区 College before transferring to ODU to study civil and environmental engineering.
At ODU, 迈尔斯’ life revolved around studying with friends and classmates. “We would go to the library every day together,”她说。. “We always had a corner in the library and that was our spot. It’s just funny, you can just see how focused the engineering majors are.”
迈尔斯 has had several favorite professors at ODU, 包括尹宰完, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “Doctor 尹 is very straightforward and when he sees potential, 他会确保你应得的,”她说。. “我真的很喜欢他这一点.”
尹, 反过来, 迈尔斯赞赏, 形容她为, “Ever-positive, 协作独立, 不知疲倦和坚韧.”
This year, 迈尔斯 served as the captain of the ASCE混凝土独木舟队, a competition in which students construct a large canoe out of concrete and compete against other university teams.
In this role, she learned valuable lessons in project management, teamwork, and communication. “I was very straightforward with the team,”她说。. “But at the same time, I respected them all.”
“My favorite part about Concrete Canoe was taking everyone's advice and trying to see how we could apply it, because we had no idea what we were going to do.”
迈尔斯’ engineering internships also provided a variety of hands-on experiences. At the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD), she learned about the importance of research by working with graduate and doctoral students. “当时, they were trying to lower the dissolved oxygen to save energy for water bills,她解释道. “这真的很有趣.”
As an intern at Hazen and Sawyer, she was treated like part of the team. “They put you on every project and treat you like an employee,”她说。. 迈尔斯 worked with pump station projects at the company.
During her third internship at Gannett Fleming, 迈尔斯看着杰西卡·侯, 公司的副总裁, 控制了一个房间. “She showed how women can be in charge and how women can do anything,” 迈尔斯 said.
在甘尼特弗莱明, 迈尔斯 collaborated with staff on water-focused environments and also learned the value of community service.
She’ll apply all those lessons learned as she begins OCS in Rhode Island next month. After that, she’ll head to California for more training in project management and civil engineering.
In the long run, 迈尔斯’ dream job is to work on mitigating pollution in the ocean. “I was surrounded by the ocean all my life, and I love it,”她说。.
However, building and constructing projects that benefit the community interests her as well. “When I lived in Guam, the military was doing construction there,”她说。. “I saw roads being built for the community, so we were all able to go to school.”
“I would be happy as long as the job is uplifting the United States and the communities surrounding it,”她说。.
上图: Kai 迈尔斯, left, served as captain of ODU’s ASCE Concrete Canoe team this year.