July/August 2023 - 73

For Ann Beaver Walters, a Career in
Geotechnical Engineering was Natural but Not Immediate
MEMBER PROF I LE
Known in the geotechnical industry as
Ann Beaver before remarrying recently,
Ann Beaver Walters, P.E., is a geotechnical
engineer with the Tennessee
Department of Transportation (TDOT).
She describes herself this way,
" Experienced geotechnical engineer,
always eager to learn about new
technologies and find ways to implement
them. Passionate about making
a difference and doing it efficiently and
safely. Adept at geotechnical analysis for
foundation recommendations, slope
recommendations, geohazard mitigation
and construction issues. " Ok, that's
it in a nutshell. Not so fast, dear reader.
While this summarizes who she is, and
what she does now, it was not always so.
The New Track
Walters received her Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree in 1997 from the University
of Memphis with a major in theater
production and a minor in mathematics.
The " minor " should have been a
give-away. Her mother was a high
school and college math teacher who
instilled in her a love of math and rocks.
Getting warmer now? Walters grew up
in northern Mississippi. She and her
mom took frequent road trips on which
they gathered shell fossils from
limestone deposits in places they would
visit, common in the hills of Mississippi.
She remembers being fascinated by the
rock cuts they observed along the
interstate highways. Walters tells us
that she really didn't have any specific
direction after graduating from high
school, but engineering, writ large,
seemed to be the direction in which she
would go. She started her college career
studying mechanical engineering, and
then switched to industrial. After a
AUTHOR S. Scot Litke, Hon. D.GE
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * JULY/AUG 2023 * 73
summer job doing time studies she
decided that engineering wasn't her cup
of tea after all. Then came the change to
majoring in theater. This isn't such a
stretch after all, as her focus on the
production side of theater required an
engineering mind-set. She enjoyed that
new " engineering " challenges came
with every show.
Walters married soon after graduation
taking on a series of what she calls
" grown up jobs. " She felt that working in
theater was not conducive to married
life and ultimately motherhood. She
first worked in a bank becoming an
assistant branch manager. She and her
former husband later moved to Knoxville,
Tennessee. Being ever resourceful,
what followed were stints decorating
cookies at a Cookie Bouquet followed by
working in a pediatrician's office. After
giving birth to her first child in 2002, son
Ben who is studying physics at
University of Tennessee, and her
daughter in 2004, Ley, an American Sign
Language and theater major at
Columbia College Chicago, she felt that
being a stay-at-home mom would be
most prudent. However, she always
harbored the thought of going back to
engineering, but the path was not clear.
A Seismic Shift
As fate would have it, in 2009, Walters
had the opportunity to go on a mission
trip to Coq Chante, Haiti, with the
pediatricians that she had worked for.
There they conducted a medical clinic
treating children at a local orphanage.
In January 2010, a major earthquake hit
Haiti and the orphanage collapsed. One
of the critical needs was for structural
engineers to determine if buildings
were safe for habitation. Walters felt
that she was capable of that kind of
challenge. It was then that she decided
to go back to school to become a civil
engineer. She enrolled at the University
of Tennessee, Knoxville. At first she
thought that she would focus on
structures, then explored materials,
wanting to help develop construction
practices that would use natural
resources in Hai t i rather than
importing steel. She graduated Summa
Cum Laude with a bachelor's in civil
engineering in 2013, as well as
garnering several prestigious awards
including being the Junior Class
Student of the Year in 2011 and Senior
Class Student of the Year 2012 and 2013.
July/August 2023

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