First-Hand:Angela R. Bielefeldt

History of an ASEE Fellow

Angela R. Bielefeldt

As of February 20, 2020 (in progress)

Birthplace: Ames, Iowa

Birth date: July 1970

Family:

I come from a family of educators. My father's dad was a teacher and then superintendent of a number of K-12 schools in Iowa. My father's mother was a teacher; although after marriage and becoming a mom she became a substitute teacher. On my mother's side, my grandma was a teacher in a 1-room school in rural Iowa. She loved teaching; but at the time, married women were not allowed to teach. This "educator" history perhaps contributes to my own love of teaching. From an engineering perspective, my father worked as an engineering technician at the Iowa Department of Transportation for over 40 years. He worked in the "design safety" division, so I grew up with stories about road safety and during family road trips was trained to observe different types of guard rail and other safety features. My mother worked at Iowa State University, first as a secretary and then moving up to administrative assistant. She worked with the Ames Lab of the Department of Energy, which was affiliated with the Materials Science and Engineering department. So growing up I heard about interesting science-related research stories through her work.

Education:

I was interested in many topics all through K-12, including math, science, and writing. A turning point occurred after my junior year of high school. To earn money for college, I was accepted into a 6-week "Women in Science and Engineering Program" at Iowa State University (ISU) where I worked in a research lab with an environmental engineering faculty member (Dr. Audrey D. Levine) and her graduate student (Anne Spiesman). I was hooked! I loved being in the laboratory and exploring issues related to human health (e.g. drinking water quality) and the environment. During my senior year of high school, I got "work release" from school in the afternoons to continue working on-campus with Dr. Levine.

When considering college, I knew I was paying my own way. I only felt that I could afford an in-state university. So I applied to the best engineering college in the state, which coincidentally was in my hometown (ISU). I entered ISU as an engineering major. All engineering students entered "first year engineering" and then applied to enter the major of their choice. Majors were enrollment limited, with various GPA cutoffs for entry. There was very much an "old school" weed out mentality. I debated primarily between civil and chemical engineering (environmental engineering was a sub-field under civil engineering at ISU). Based on my relationships with civil engineering faculty (continuing to work in the same laboratory under Dr. Levine), I selected civil engineering. I was often one of the few female students in my classes. In my dormitory, our "house" (all women) included only 3 engineering students total. I was also somewhat "misfit" to my cohort, since I entered college in third semester calculus. I often felt isolated. But I was confident that I would enjoy being a practicing engineer after graduation, based on conversations with my graduate student mentors; many had worked as engineers after their Bachelor's degree and had returned to earn an M.S. degree in civil engineering. I worked in the lab at ISU throughout my undergraduate years. I enjoyed a variety of summer internships. In retrospect, I wish that I had enjoyed my time as an undergraduate student a little more - stressed about grades a little less, maybe tried to fit in study abroad. But I was focused on completing my degree because my scholarship ended after four years.

After my Bachelor's degree, I entered the graduate program in civil / environmental engineering at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. Once again, I applied to a single program. I had contacted multiple faculty members conducting research in my area of interest at about 5 schools around the country . Only 1 responded: Dr. David Stensel. During a visit to Seattle, I felt that I would fit in well with the other graduate students and Dr. Stensel as a research mentor. I really enjoyed my Master's degree experience. I was already comfortable with laboratory research. But the best part was the amazing group of other Master's and PhD students in the program. We worked hard and really supported one another. We played lots of intramural sports together (volleyball, ultimate frisbee, softball, bowling, crew). It was great meeting students from around the world. I planned to enter environmental engineering consulting after my MS degree. Toward this goal, I worked in Seattle after my MS. But ultimately, I was lured back to the PhD program by Dr. Stensel and my love of research. My PhD was fairly accelerated, completed in a little under 2 years. A chance meeting with UW-alumni Prof. Marc Edwards was an important catalyst in my move into academia.

Employment:

Laboratory research assistant, environmental engineering, Iowa State University 1987-1992

Summer intern at CH2M Hill, Reston VA, municipal services division, 1990

Summer intern at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque NM, environmental restoration division, 1991

Engineer-In-Training at Montgomery Watson, Des Moines IA, May-Sept 1992

Engineer-In-Training at Retec Engineering, Seattle WA, Mar-Sept 1994

Assistant, Associate, Full Professor, University of Colorado Boulder, Aug. 1996 - present

Research and Scholarship:

My earliest research at ISU as a high school student focused on organic matter in water, and the formation of disinfection by-products in drinking water.

Biokinetics

Biological Gas Treatment

Remediation

Point-of-use household water treatment for developing communities: ceramic water filters

Philosophy of Engineering Education

ASEE Activities

I first attended an ASEE conference in 2003. I wrote a paper on our capstone design course which I submitted to the Environmental Engineering Division. The paper won the "early career award", and while I was at the dinner I got elected to the board...

Other Professional Activities

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE): I was a student member of ASCE as an undergraduate student, but once I became immersed in environmental engineering in graduate school, I let that membership and activity lapse. However, at CU I taught the first-year Introduction to Civil Engineering course, which was very broad. This allowed me to reconnect to the breadth of civil engineering. Joining ASCE was a natural fit to keep up with industry-wide trends. Over time I have become active on the "education" side of ASCE. I was a corresponding member on the committee that set the ABET program specific criteria. Then I moved "upstream" and joined the Body of Knowledge 3 (BOK3) Task Committee. I am currently a member of the Program Criteria committee, looking to explore changes to the ABET criteria for civil engineering programs and how they align (or perhaps do not) with the BOK3.