Learning Undefeated’s STEM Spotlight series features young professionals from diverse backgrounds who are working to make a difference in science, business, medicine, engineering, and technology fields. Each short video includes a profile of the job role and information about how they came to be interested in STEM.
STEM Spotlight, Kathy Phelan Weber
Power Tools Engineer
Stanley Black and Decker
Kathy Phelan Weber grew up in Baltimore, MD and earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland. Kathy’s path in STEM began when she found a love for Legos as a child. After spending over a decade with Stanley Black and Decker, Kathy is the holder of three patents and has various roles under her belt, including manufacturing engineer, new product development engineer, securities marketing, and sourcing engineer.
TRANSCRIPT
Engineers make literally everything. We make roads. We make your refrigerator. We make roads. We make your television. We make your toys. We make everything.
My name is Kathy Phelan Weber and I’m a power tool engineer at Stanley Black and Decker. The thing I like the best about being an engineer is that no day is the same. I get to be really hands-on. I get to take tools apart, I get to put them back together. I get to go outside and use them. I really like that I get to be really hands-on with my job.
I became interested in a job in engineering because my whole life I’ve always really liked working in puzzles, wondering how things work, and I just had a natural curiosity for why things are the way they are.
My advice to anybody who would want to be an engineer is to develop a natural curiosity for everything around them. Part of being an engineer is always asking more questions. Why things are the way they are. We need kids to be engineers because technology is always changing. There will always be the need for new designs, for better designs, and for new problem solvers for all of the new technology that’s constantly changing. If you enjoy science, if you enjoy how things work, and if you’re just a curious person. Anyone can be an engineer, it doesn’t matter what you look like or where you come from. If you are a curious person you can be an engineer.
