Momentum - April 2021 - 30

Maxwell Trdina

CAreer Path

FIGHT OFF THE FEAR
LIKE SO MANY BEFORE HER, EMILY ANTHONY has walked
through a good many doors that were opened by her
experience with Formula SAE. At the moment, the former
captain of the University of Pittsburgh team is working as an
engineer, studying for a master's
degree, volunteering for SAE in
several ways, and coordinating the
annual Pittsburgh Shootout
autocross competition.
As a rather young engineer,
Anthony has career advice that is
particularly relevant to new
engineers. Among other things
" don't be afraid of change, because SAE Industrial Lecturer and
you can learn a lot from it, " she told FSAE volunteer Emily
Anthony is employed as an
MOMENTUM. " Don't get stuck in a
engineer at FAAC.
job just because it's a job. When
you're early in your career, you can
bounce very quickly within an industry-and even outside a
particular industry. You're very malleable. You haven't
pigeonholed yourself into some expertise yet, so it's ok to
jump ship and try something new. "
That's what she did after working for almost two years after
graduation at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. She packed her
bags and started a new engineering job at Chrysler. Then, after
a few months there, she went to Hitachi Automotive Systems.
That engineering job ended with the pandemic, and Anthony
spent almost all of 2020 unemployed. In December 2020, she
got on with FAAC, an Ann Arbor, Mich., maker of training and
driving simulators.

30 April 2021

A Formula SAE competitor takes the
University of Michigan car around a
turn at the Pittsburgh Shootout.

Another piece of advice from Anthony: " Don't be afraid to
ask questions. I was afraid in that way when I just started
working, and it made my life a lot harder. I was afraid of coming
off as incompetent. But I learned that letting go of that fear
and asking for help when you need it benefited me a lot. The
people you are working for and with are looking out for you. "
It's also important to leverage the resources you have as
member of an SAE Collegiate Design Series team, she said.
" You'd be surprised where life can take you. The reason I got
my first job was my connections to SAE-specifically, my
supervisor at Westinghouse was a former FSAE competitor. I
only knew him because I kept in touch with team alumni, and
he was on Pitt's FSAE team about 12 years before I was. Alumni
care about your FSAE program and are interested in how it
develops, so stay connected. "
Anthony began applying her own advice before she
graduated From Pitt in 2016, leveraging FSAE alumni
connections at several universities to establish the Pittsburgh
Shootout. Non-sanctioned by SAE, the autocross event drew
only seven cars from five universities in its first year. The
though notion for such a competition was a group effort
among the Pitt FSAE team, she did the bulk of the work for the
first few years. It got so big that she needed help from alumni
starting in 2019, a year in which 29 cars competed.
Anthony also does volunteer work for the general FSAE
program. Her mentor is James Shaw, another Pitt FSAE
alumnus who. He leads the SES technical document reviews
for FSAE. She and Shaw are also speakers in SAE's Industrial
Lecture Program. The focus of her talks is project
management. n

MOMENTUM

https://www.sae.org/participate/membership/collegiate-chapters/industrial-lecture-program?utm_source=actionpoint&utm_campaign=octnov https://www.sae.org/participate/membership/collegiate-chapters/industrial-lecture-program?utm_source=actionpoint&utm_campaign=octnov

Momentum - April 2021

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