As a graduate geophysicist with AECOM, Katherine Jawed enjoys the vastly varied project scopes and international locations where she has been given the opportunity to contribute and work as a Lead Engineer. She's ambitious and hard-working and is enjoying her exciting career with AECOM.

Katherine graduated from Cardiff University with a MESci, which is a four year course involving hypothesis testing, critical analysis and problem. She then undertook an exchange year at the University of Wyoming in the United States and graduated with a 2:1 (Hons). Katherine started her career as a Graduate Geophysicist with company Reynolds International Ltd and worked on an array of projects such as bathymetric data for offshore windfarms. She then continued her thriving geophysicist career with AECOM.

"Every week is different," remarks Katherine. "Some days I have been collecting Ground Penetrating Radar data from a Hi-Rail Vehicle in the Australian outback, then other days I've been involved monitoring tunnel structural integrity on site during a track lowering, or processing and interpreting collected geophysical data."

Katherine's work is impressive and this is evidenced by when she applied for a Ground Engineering Next Generation Awards for Young Ground Investigation Award and the PWI Young Achievers Award, and was awarded as ‘Highly Commended’ in both awards.

Katherine often encourages other women to "embrace the opportunity of a generation of women that have the capabilities to infiltrate a man’s world" as she knows all too well that the engineering sector as a whole desperately needs more female talent. She appreciates AECOM's strong focus on actively trying to recruit more women engineers.

Katherine is keen that more girls choose science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects at school. And when it comes to being at university, Katherine says that "It’s too easy to feel like you aren’t good enough for something, and seeing so many impressive experienced engineers can be daunting, so always remember to apply for what you want and not just what you feel you deserve".

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