STEM Profiles: Catie Royko on Running a Nuclear Power Plant
Catie Royko is an engineer at a nuclear power plant, and the newest addition to our STEM Profiles series. (Other profiles are here and here.) It’s her job to keep the reactor running safely and efficiently as it generates electricity. We asked her about her work, and what got her interested in it.
I remember my Aha! moment — the day in AP Chem class that I decided upon nuclear engineering as a career. I read a radioactive decay equation and thought, “Wait, I can take something and make it into another thing on an elemental level?” and I was done. I then spent the next five years with the goal of becoming a nuclear engineer, through my last year of high school and four years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
College was challenging, but very rewarding. I graduated in 2011 and I’m currently a reactor engineer at a nuclear boiling water reactor in Pennsylvania. Reactor engineers ensure that the nuclear fuel at a power plant is burned efficiently and correctly through its cycle.
Imagine a fire. If you didn’t keep putting logs on it and moving around what is burning, would it stay lit long or burn as warmly as it should? As reactor engineers, we essentially serve the function of stoking the fire and moving the logs around to ensure a proper burn.
I love my job. We generate clean, reliable, carbon-free electricity and keep the lights on for our neighbors. There are few things more rewarding than preparing and executing a flawless power maneuver (essentially, stoking the fire) at work.
When I first started in the industry, I was fortunate that I had a fellow engineer as a mentor. She taught me to be strong and stand up for myself when necessary. She said never to let anyone devalue you because of your gender. I am six years into my career and to this day, that remains one of the best lessons I have learned.
If you are interested in a STEM career, you should absolutely pursue it! There is no shortage of jobs, challenges, or places you can go. Not everyone who is in STEM is a 4.0 student in college or high school — in fact, most of us were not those 4.0 students. Don’t let the challenge of the major discourage you; we’ve all had difficulties but managed to get through and have a super-rewarding career.
Check out other STEM Profiles in our series:
· Anzar Abbas, a neuroscience student examining the resting brain.
· Mike Nguyen, a mathematician and former football star.
