I am excited about my current work challenge at DuPont as director of Corporate Engineering Technology because it allows me to capitalize on my education as an engineer, and on many years of experience in technology and business management at DuPont. About six months ago I was asked to lead DuPont's engineering technology services and experiment by running them" like a business" and providing cost-effective technology solutions to DuPont's manufacturing sites and to its technology development/new market development programs. Experiments like this - that shape a Corporation's future, that try new ways of doing things and break new ground - have always been very attractive to me and so I naturally migrate in those directions. Having been born and raised in India with the belief that formal advanced education is key to successful life experiences, I left my sheltered life and embarked on a journey of new learning experiences at Caltech and MIT, graduating with a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT in 1976. Learning from an internationally renowned engineering faculty was awe inspiring, perspective broadening, and immensely rewarding. Learning was fun! I made it a lifelong objective to be continuously learning and applying that learning to make a difference in whatever endeavor I chose. I began corporate life as a researcher in science/engineering, and from the very beginning I was interested in seeing the big picture, setting challenging goals and working with a team to chart an exciting path to achieving them. Supportive bosses early in my career saw leadership potential in me, gave me many challenging opportunities, set me up for success and allowed my talents as a technology leader to grow. My strong technical credibility coupled with team building and interpersonal skills earned me assignments with ever increasing responsibilities. I sought out exciting new opportunities to learn new areas of technology in different business/market segments and that gave me the opportunity to work with very capable teams . I was willing to work hard, make difficult choices, and make life/balance sacrifices to achieve what seemed to be impossible goals. With an extremely supportive husband, life was made easy for me. A turning point in my career came when I was asked to run a large business within DuPont in 1995. My challenge was to grow the business globally while making money daily and while starting up two new manufacturing plants with new process technology. The job gave me a new perspective on the difficulty of balancing the needs of customers, employees, corporate management and society in a way I did not have before. Through the difficulties and occasional loss of self confidence, I learned a great deal about how to make balanced decisions. My ability to stay cool through some extremely challenging moments held me in good stead. I am at a stage in my life and career during which I have had a very satisfying, broad set of experiences, and have received recognition for my contributions inside DuPont as well as from professional societies and from the prestigious National Academy of Engineering. My goals now are to continue to promote the use of engineering technologies to make businesses more successful and achieve sustainability while they strive to make better things for better living. I am keen to help make a difference locally at DuPont as well as on a national front through the Academy. Satisfaction now comes from helping young engineers, especially women, grow to achieve their aspirations. To help young women believe they can have dreams and achieve what seems impossible, to build their self confidence and to set them up for successful journeys, is an exhilarating experience for me. I look forward to doing that for the rest of my life.
