Celebrating BRT Women: Meet Patricia Rodriguez, Project Engineer

Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) sent this bulletin at 03/08/2018 11:05 AM PST

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Bus Rapid Transit

Patricia Rodriguez: Engineering Transportation’s Future

From Wall Street to the streets of Hollywood, women have demonstrated their leadership and received acclaim for their acumen in what traditionally are male-dominated occupations. However, rarely is the spotlight shone on women leaving their footprint in construction boots and concrete as builders of Main Street.

Women in Construction Week, March 5-11, is an opportunity for AC Transit’s East Bay Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to applaud the hard working women in construction who are critical to the success of the BRT project and are helping to make a difference in their community.

One change agent taking center stage is Patricia “Patty” Rodriguez. Patty is a project engineer with Berkeley-based O. C. Jones & Sons, Inc.: general contractor for the $213 million BRT Project. It should be noted the woman behind the big title and even bigger construction budget is just 25 years old. She may be a millennial but wise beyond her years in knowledge of the BRT corridor. In fact, Patty has lived in both Oakland and San Leandro, and that has afforded firsthand experiences and appreciation of the diverse communities BRT will serve when the innovative transit system opens in late 2019.

 

patty_car

You might say that Patty’s journey to BRT and the construction industry was inevitable for a young woman who grew up in the shadows of Chico, California. In fact, Patty vividly remembers visiting her father’s construction jobs as a young girl, loving every minute. She also loved the “hard” school subjects other girls her age dreaded: math, physics and science. So in love with Kepler’s first law and objects in motion, instead of dreaming of a driver’s license at 16, Patty dreamed of a career as an architect. Until a chance conversation with an electrical engineer changed her whole trajectory, and planted a seed that blossomed into an unexpected career path.

Patty’s passion for phase velocity led to California State University, Chico where she received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering in 2015. Yet studying photons and Pascal’s law were not always easy, “I never struggled in math and science until college,” she admits. Patty credits her academic success to teachers and tutors provided by Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) and the National Science Foundation’s Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP).

As one of five women in engineering classes of 100 men, Patty implores, “Don’t get intimidated by all the boys in class.” Instead, Patty stresses the importance of seeking help from advisors and tutors who help to keep students academically on track. She strongly encourages young girls to research, explore and consider Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)-based careers. A month after submitting her resume to O. C. Jones during a Chico State career fair in 2015, Patty was contacted for an interview. She was subsequently hired and, as they say, the rest is her-story.

 

patty_crew

As a project engineer at O.C. Jones, Patty is responsible for making sure the massive amounts of documents needed to manage and build BRT are in the hands of the right people at the right time. “It’s not just paper pushing,” says Patty. “Well, it is paper pushing, but it’s really about understanding what’s in the documents and how they impact the project. You must be able to read plans, understand elevations, survey points, quantities and redesign, and make decisions about the urgency and timing of what’s in the documents. You have to be able to visualize what’s past the paper and see how each document impacts the big picture financially and otherwise,” she explains.

When asked what she has learned in her three years on the job, Patty says, “I’ve grown a lot. I was shy and now I’m coming out of my shell. I’ve grown a thicker skin, and I’ve learned to say ‘No’ and to stand up for myself.”

For anyone considering a STEM-based career who encounters the inevitable academic struggles, Patty smiles and says, “Try harder, find help, prioritize and be prepared for your social life to suffer.”

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