Patricia L. Eng

Patricia L. Eng

Imagine being in the eighth grade and realized you want to go into engineering. That is how Professional Engineer Eng got started. She was told that her college years would be rough, but it would be worth it in the end.

She received her Bachelors in Nuclear Engineering from the prestige’s University of Illinois, graduating in 1976. She started as an engineer at Westinghouse and now currently works for the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Her current assignment is to find ways to safely use and dispose of radioactive materials.

Before going to the NRC, she spent eight years working in industry. She spent four of these eight years at Westinghouse Hanford, where she worked on construction of the Fast Flux Test Facility, investigated the viability of U-233 as a proliferation-resistant fuel, and developed a prototype low-level waste volume reduction system (RADTU). After Westinghouse Hanford, she worked as a stress analyst at two other companies: Advanced Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Project for Garrett AiResearch and Sargent and Lundy studying nuclear power plant pipe stress.

Ms. Eng is an active volunteer in IEEE and was a member of its Women in Engineering Committee. She is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers, and believes in mentoring young girls in electrical engineering.

Besides IEEE, she is also affiliated with American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Nuclear Society and the Association of Women in Science. The National Academy of Engineering hosts a committee on Celebration of Women in Engineering, of which Patricia was a member.