Guest Speakers
Mary Chaplin
Chevron Corporation
Mary's journey to working for Chevron picks up after high school and being an exchange student to Denmark. She graduated from Mississippi State University with her BS in Electrical Engineering in 1996 with an emphasis in communication and a MS in Electrical Engineering in 1998 with an emphasis in artificial intelligence. She's worked for 10 years in industry, spending time with Brightstar as a software engineer and Merrick Systems, Inc. as a program manager.
She started working for Chevron's ETC/Technical Computing/Information Management team in the summer of 2005. Her time with Chevron has included working as the program manager and software engineer for RMIS (Reservoir Management Information System) and being a part of the EC (Energy Component) central support team. Her role on the EC team includes providing SME support for the central team by pulling from her previous experience in development and implementation of production allocation software and also being the site advisor and providing leadership to the Thailand EC implementation team. Her current role is as a team lead for a software development team that is focusing on the implementation of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) within Chevron.
Her life outside of Chevron includes her husband, Chris, son, Alexander, and daughter, Gabrielle. She has an avid interest in languages, cultures and new places, and the philosophy and discipline surrounding martial arts.
Jennifer Cole
Chief of Aerodynamics at NASA Dryden
After earning her BS and 75% of her MS in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State, Jennifer joined Dryden full-time in June 2000 as an engineer in the Aerodynamics Branch. She began her career working on two technology-demonstration projects using F/A-18 aircraft: Autonomous Formation Flight and Automated Aerial Refueling. Jennifer's subsequent roles introduced her to the world of Aviation Safety, and she served as Chief Engineer of the Propulsion-Controlled Aircraft Recovery (PCAR) project, which investigated methods of controlling a damaged aircraft using engine thrust. This work led to the Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) project, which is currently investigating advanced algorithms for controlling aircraft. Last July, Jennifer accepted a position in technical supervision as Chief of the Aerodynamics and Propulsion Branch, and is currently finishing up her Masters' thesis project in improving helicopter aerodynamics.
Carla Williams
Chevron Corporation
Carla's journey to working for Chevron has been interesting. She is originally from Vicksburg, MS where she graduated from Vicksburg High School. She graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with her BS in Electrical Engineering in 2000 and a MBA in International Business from University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX in 2005. Prior to attending college, Carla worked as a student working for US Army Corps of Engineers – Waterways Experiment Station in the Environmental Engineering Division. It was during these years, she decided to pursue a career in engineering. She chose this path due to a love for math and science as well as it being an industry that lacked minorities and women. While in college, she held summer internships with USAE-WES, Hewlett Packard and General Motors-Delphi Division.
She started working for ExxonMobil's Upstream Technical Computing Company after graduating from college in 2000. While employed with ExxonMobil, Carla held positions as a UNIX System Administrator, Telecommunications Project Engineer and Engineering Project Manager. As project manager, Carla traveled extensively internationally overseeing various projects. She has traveled to West Africa, UK and Europe during the years. In May 2007, Carla switched careers and began employment with Chevron ETC/Technical Computing. Her short time with Chevron has included working as an Information Management Team Lead overseeing a team of seismic and well data analysts as well as applications support personnel who provides embedded support to internal customers. Her role also includes overseeing a team of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analysts whom provide central and embedded support to internal customers. She is currently working on strategic implementations by leveraging her previous Project Manager experience.
Her life outside of Chevron includes her husband, Chat with whom she enjoys traveling and attending sporting events. Her parents Carl and Gertrude Williams still reside in Vicksburg, MS and she enjoys going to her hometown periodically to visit. She has an interest in learning about other cultures, visiting new places, continuous learning and spending time with family/friends.