Ms. Thuha Nguyen grew fond of her faculty advisors during her time at the University of Florida College of Engineering. Nguyen started out at UF with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in the late 1990s, but internship opportunities, supportive mentors, and pure curiosity soon turned her interests to transportation.
“Because I know AutoCAD, I was offered an internship as a drafter, which led to other internships more civil engineering-oriented, so I tried it out by taking an elective course in transportation,” Nguyen said. “I really like the people aspects of transportation. I like to be able to help understand and address their concerns.”
Nguyen received her master’s degree in Transportation Engineering at UF in 2001 and is now running her own business, called via planning, inc. She did not have a career goal in mind after graduating from UF, but becoming a project manager was a natural progression. Her leadership qualities, desire to know more, and ability to understand others’ points of view turned into employment as an analyst, task leader of small projects, project manager for Kittelson & Associates, Inc., and now finally her own business where she calls the shots on projects. With her untiring inquisitiveness, the projects will only get bigger and better for this UF graduate.
Nguyen credits her former undergraduate advisor from the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering for where she is now because he would encourage students to trust their gut feelings. “Dr. Matthews from the Mechanical Engineering Department once told us ‘when you get this warm and fuzzy feeling, you know you’re doing the right things, getting the right answers,’” Nguyen said, reflecting back. “To me, it was his way of encouraging us to listen to our inner voice, to trust our instincts. And that has guided me, through both professional and personal lives.”
In the future, Nguyen hopes to get more involved with professional organizations and her local community. She loves to help others, through giving advice or providing an outlet for others. She recently co-founded the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) “Emerging Leaders Forum,” where young leaders in an organization can express out-of-the-box ideas to senior company executives with ACEC. The younger execs learn institutional knowledge from the senior members, while the superiors learn how to better connect with and empower the new leaders.
The forum was yet another place where UF inspiration came in again. As a student, Nguyen looked up to Dr. Scott Washburn. “Dr. Washburn wouldn’t accept ‘that’s how things have been done’ for an answer. He constantly challenged us to be more inventive and creative.” Nguyen said. “If things are done the same way, that doesn’t mean things can’t be better.”
UFTI couldn’t agree more, and is proud to have inspired the leaders of today like Nguyen.