Kim Linder

Dr. Kim Linder

Mechanical Engineer, Honeywell FM&T

Cedar Crest, NM

Mechanical Engineer| Honeywell FM&T

Address

Cedar Crest, NM

What I Do

I am involved in custom product development, this involves finding the customer, learning their needs, developing the product, and delivering it to the customer. Products include machine vision systems, data analysis, image processing and sensor systems.
Why Engineering?

I have always had an interest (and been successful) in math and logic-type problems. The counselors at school encouraged me to go into engineering based on this interest and success.
School Days

I went to New Mexico State University where I received my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering.
My Day At Work

I have always had to refer back to various areas of engineering and physics to solve problems I have been faced with. I do not always remember every formula or material property, but I do know where to go find it. I also work in small teams where everybody has a lot of responsibility. I communicate often with the customer and strive to meet and exceed there needs.
Best Part

I work of a variety of diverse products at my engineering job. While I do spend a lot of time on my computer, I also get to work with cameras, microscopes, sensors and other hardware components. I get learn about the state of the art 'techi' stuff.
Challenges

It is difficult to be a shy, introverted girl in a room of mostly males in engineering classes and other similar groups. I learned to solve problems all on my own. I learned to speak up and ask for help. I learned people are people and everyone has their own bias, so if you do an excellent job, it's hard for people to ignore you.
My Family

I was married while pursing my PhD. My husband is also an engineer. I was nervous about how to juggle kids and a demanding career, but I now have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and wouldn't change a thing. I believe I am the biggest role model in their lives, and I want to show them they can do anything they want. My husband and I work well as a team taking care of our two girls.
Dreams and Goals

I am currently working on obtaining the next step in my technical career path at Honeywell. I will continue to work and grow in my areas of expertise. Long term, basically I will position myself to be happy in my career and life.
Inspiration

Definitely the teachers in my life. Math teachers taught me to love math, engineering professors taught me to take what I have learned and do something creative and productive with it.
Additional Thoughts

I have been in situations that I have been discriminated against because I am a female, even at a young age. I have used these situations to become even more determined to get what I want.
Hobbies

I love to run and participate in local fun runs and trail runs. I downhill ski and am on the National Ski Patrol. I volunteer in various community education programs. I also enjoy sewing and craft projects.

My experience as an engineer began when I was in Junior High School. I had a wonderful algebra teacher, Mrs. Duran, and this is really where my love for math and logic problems began. Was it hard? Yes. But I enjoyed the entire concept of 'word problems.' As college approached, and the couselors saw that I had done well and enjoyed computer programming, they encouraged me to sign up for Engineering. Engineering was a career that was in-demand and I also discovered that Electrical Engineering (EE) involved a lot of math. I attended New Mexico State University and received a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in EE. I made sure that I wasn't only involved in academics. In college I was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, on the club soccer team, and participated in every intramural activity that was offered! In hindsight, I believe college not only teaches you academics, but how to deal with a multitude of diverse tasks. After I got my degree in EE, it seemed that every job I interviewed for was interesting at a first glance, but it didn't seem like it would be something that I wanted to do forever. One day, I happened to speak to a professor about his research in computational electromagnetics. This was an area I had learned about during a summer job, and while I had never thought I would ever go to graduate school, I enrolled. I worked hard and received a Masters of Science in EE. But again, I had the same problem when it came to getting a job. The industry jobs sounded like they would become stale. Then, I started speaking with a professor in the Mechanical Engineering (ME) department about his research. Mechanical?! Wait, I thought, I'm an Electrical Engineer! But it sounded fun and better than any job, so I enrolled. I found that getting a Ph.D. did not mean specializing in one particular area, but was just the opposite. Ten years after entering college, I left with BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees. While this may seem like a long time, the important thing was that I was learning something useful and having lots of fun as I was doing it. I really think that all my education and hard work has led me to a position at Honeywell I truly enjoy. I have a lot of freedom in my job. If there is a particular type of work I believe we can be successful at, I am allowed to pursue that work. So to anybody interested in pursuing a degree in Engineering, I have a number of suggestions. First, take as many math and engineering classes as you can. Second, become involved in extracurricular activities - ranging from math groups to sports to arts and crafts, or whatever your interests are. Being an engineer requires working on teams, the more experience you have working on teams and in all types of groups, the more successful you will be. And finally, remember everything you do is a learning experience, whether you are learning calculus or observing human interactions, so pay attention. This is your chance at a fun life -- make the most of it!