People streamed across the terminal, quickly dashing here and there. They crowded onto subway platforms and packed staircases. Was this a huge train station? Not quite. It was our office in Queens. But the visuals were real enough. Last week, transportation engineer Nil Simsek made a presentation to our Queens program girls, enhanced with slides and simulations of New York City transit hubs, about her field, her education, and her career.
Nil’s presentation covered many aspects of a transportation engineer’s work. She described methods engineers use to discover where and how pedestrians and commuters use streets, train stations, parking garages, and more. She showed graphics engineers use to study traffic patterns in an effort to make such spaces safer and more efficient. She also touched on how she trained for her chosen profession.
Nil’s training happened here in New York, at NYU Polytechnic. From Polytechnic, she took a BS in computer science and an MS in transportation planning and engineering. Nil grew up in Turkey, enabling her to connect with the many first generation Americans who row for us. Her most recent major project involved analysis of the Grand Central Terminal expansion as a consultant for STV Incorporated.
We organize presentations like Nil’s for the power of our speakers’ examples. Youth from under-resourced neighborhoods need role models, and our speakers are invited to model the sort of discipline, confidence, and self-efficacy we love to impart. Nil’s presentation was doubly valuable because of its engineering component. Young women looking to enter the Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics fields often find the effort more difficult for lack of role models and mentors in those disciplines. Nil’s visit means the girls of our Queens program can now call to mind her example when they picture themselves in a future career.
One of the interested rowers who saw Nil speak remarked afterward, “Transportation engineers are very important to society and there are so many specialized jobs in this career that contribute to everyday life.” Nil said, “I am very pleased that the girls at Row New York were interested in my talk. It is gratifying to help young girls become informed about career opportunities and assist them in making decisions for their future in any way possible. I hope I was able to encourage them to pursue their interests.”
Thank you to Nil Simsek for speaking to our girls in Queens! We’ve always believed that the more information our young people have available to them, the better decisions they can make about their futures. We suspect there are a few engineers in our boats right now.
