Jennifer K. Muir, P.E., is the Founder and President of JKMuir, a successful women-owned and operated engineering and energy consulting firm specializing in water, wastewater, and industrial processes. Jen, who was featured as a Pump Person of the Week in 2017, and the other engineers on her team are celebrating Engineers Week 2018 by allowing Empowering Pumps to share what inspires them!
This is what she had to say!
Q. How did you decide to become an engineer? What inspired you?
Jen: Other practicing engineers inspired me; the real application of experience versus theory. Plus, I’m really miserable behind a lab bench (::chuckles::).
Q. What do you love most about being an engineer?
Jen: Pumps! And people too. I always wanted to be a resource for solving problems, but what I learned is that pumps don’t have problems…people have problems with their pumps. So you learn to understand from people what they are experiencing, what the issues are, how it’s impacting their operations, THEN we can use all our technical skills to address the problem.
Q. What advice would you give to the next generation of engineers?
Jen: Get out in the field, in the plants, on the manufacturing floor. Real, value-driven, problem solving requires hands-on learning. Knowing what could go wrong is more important than using theoretical theories and standards to design it “right.”
On behalf of the entire Empowering Brands’ team, THANK YOU for your contributions to the Pump Industry! We look forward to keeping in touch with you over the course of your career!
