What was your first job and what did you learn from it?

My first job was as a "Kettering Rent-A-Kid" doing odd jobs at low wages for people in the community. I did mostly yard work, with some painting and housework, and one job cooking dinner for two elderly ladies. I learned that doing a conscientious job was a way to get repeat business. I learned organizational skills by keeping track of 20 employers, including three that were named Mrs. Thompson. I learned that I definitely never wanted another job involving cooking.

Who is your hero, mentor or person you most admire? Why?

I think the person I admire most is my mother. She has always found a way to accomplish what was important to her despite obstacles that would stop most people. She was the mother of six children in six years. She somehow found the time to do special things for each of us, and to give each of us individual attention. She did not have the educational opportunities I enjoyed, so she decided to start college once my youngest brother started kindergarten. She earned a degree, found a job, and went to work, while still fulfilling all her family responsibilities.

Recently, although she battles cancer, she refuses to define herself by the disease. She sees herself as a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and person of many interests who happens to have cancer. She has borne the travails of cancer, as well as the treatments that have sometimes been worse than the disease, with humor, optimism, and grace. She is a strong woman.

What are you most proud of (either professionally or personally)?

Personally, I am proudest of my two sons, ages 4 1/2 and 2. They are good kids, and I really like the way they are growing up.

Professionally, I am proudest of the design work I did for one of my company's processor chips. It was the largest design I have had technical responsibility for. I was responsible for designing a large area of logic to accomplish arithmetic functions. I decided on the structure of the design, and worked with a couple of other engineers to design and debug it. It was much faster than what it replaced, it worked well, and we got it debugged fairly quickly. It was incorporated into our computer system, and is being used by many customers.

What advice would you give to young women who want to enter your field?

My advice would be to expect your co-workers to treat you like just another engineer. The field of computer hardware design is still predominantly male. My experience has been that women who expect that their work will not be respected by male engineers often have their expectations fulfilled.

What is your favorite book?

I don't have one favorite book. I devour fiction when I have the time. Some novels I like a lot are:

• "East of Eden," by John Steinbeck
• "The Handmaid's Tale," by Margaret Atwood
• "Ender's Game "One True Thing," by Anna Quindlen
• "The Pillars of the Earth," by Ken Follett.

"The Soul of a New Machine," by Tracy Kidder, is my favorite technical-related book. It does a good job of bringing to life the energy, frustrations, and triumphs of creating a computer design.

What do you see as the single most interesting element of your work?

The most interesting part of the job is applying problem-solving skills. I get a real sense of accomplishment from working with a group to turn ideas into a product that works. The whole process, from deciding the structure of the hardware that will accomplish the goals, through doing the detailed design, through running tests and debugging problems, is enjoyable.

What was your darkest moment (professionally) and what did you learn from it?

A couple of years ago, morale was very low at my company. The long-term future of our division was uncertain. Attrition was terrible; there were going-away lunches scheduled almost every Friday. We wondered if our group was still viable after losing all the experienced engineers that had left. I decided to stay with the company, because I still really enjoyed the job I was doing.

I learned how quickly things can turn around, even with little tangible change. The product that we shipped in this time frame was successful. Upper management started paying some attention to professional satisfaction issues. We were able to hire new people to replace some that we had lost. We reorganized my group in a way that made sense, and which was professionally good for me.

It doesn't seem like the same place. People are happy at work now. There is a lot of energy. The new engineers we hired don't have the level of experience of the engineers they replaced, but we have built a team that is the strongest team I have ever worked on. I can't put my finger on what made the difference, but it happened fast, and it is real.

What do you do to relax?

The most important, and most effective, way I relax is by playing with my kids. My jobs as an engineer and as a mother are so different from each other that each helps to renew me for the other. I also enjoy reading and doing crossword puzzles.