Jacobs: If/When

Kara Connon has experience developing and delivering inspirational and interactive educational STEAM programs for pupils of all ages, to raise young people’s aspiration and knowledge of future STEAM careers and develop the skills of the future workforce. Kara has successfully engaged with Boards of Directors and Executive Leadership teams to gain their confidence in the development of a strategy that will support them in achieving ambitious KPIs for global STEAM engagement. In November 2020, Kara was appointed Jacobs STEAM Lead for Europe, coordinating over 800 STEAM Ambassadors in the UK alone, with a remit of developing and delivering Jacobs’ global STEAM launch and an ambitious STEAM strategy, to maximize the social value and impact Jacobs will have on pupil and community STEAM education throughout the world.As a communicator, Lainie Harber is passionate about storytelling and building relationships. In her nearly 10 years in communications – starting in public relations, social media and crisis communications eventually transitioning to executive communications and strategy work – she’s had the pleasure of helping people and companies reach their communications and marketing goals. Currently, she serves as a Communication Project Manger at Jacobs where she oversees large company projects that support and drive the company strategy forward. Lainie is a Kansas girl and earned her Masters of Journalism and Strategic Communication from the University of Kansas. In her spare time, Lainie likes to travel, cook and have adventures with her husband, Scott, her son, Max and their Australian Shepherd, Marlow.Samuel Stanford is a 24-year-old Physicist and Structural Engineer for the Jacobs Electronics Team, as well as the host of his own STEAM education podcast called Everything STEAM. He is also a STEAM Ambassador for Jacobs and spends his free time educating individuals through social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and the Wisdom app. Just recently with the help of a local business partnership, Sam has launched a sustainable clothing line called Ecolite. He writes ecological research blogs such as saving the bees, commercial fishing and much more. These research blogs are directly linked to Ecolite clothing via a QR code. With the drive for a circular fashion approach and the incorporation of green clothing alternatives, he has been able to combine fashion, sustainability and learning, all in one purchase. Throughout his college years, he had developed his teaching abilities through tutoring people in advanced Physics and Mathematical concepts. He was also given the opportunity to conduct material science research while running a fully functional 3D Printing laboratory, and he conducted research into Organic Electrochemical Transistor nanofabrication for a healthcare company. In the future, Sam has aspirations to continue his college career by pursuing a Master’s program consisting of Structural Engineering and Mechanics of Materials. 

Mark Mothersbaugh is one of this era’s most unique and prolific composers. Deeply aware of the ability of precise, multi-faceted artistic expression to deliver vital social commentary, he has perpetually challenged and redefined musical and visual boundaries. Mothersbaugh co-founded influential rock group DEVO, and then parlayed his avant-garde musical background into a leading role in the world of scoring for filmed and animated entertainment, interactive media and commercials.As an award winning composer, his credits include Thor: Ragnarok, Moonrise Kingdom, 21 Jump Street, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Enlightened, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and the hugely successful Rugrats television, stage and film franchise. Through his multimedia company, Mutato Muzika, Mark has scored hundreds of commercials. Mothersbaugh received the BMI Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement at the organization’s 2004 Film/TV Awards.

Dr. Jennifer Blum, an astrophysicist, is Senior Director Data Scientist for Jacobs CMS Cyber & Intelligence Business Unit. She is the second African American woman to ever graduate with a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Michigan. Her doctorate focused on using X-ray satellites to determine how fast black holes and neutron stars spin. Her current expertise is in cyber security algorithm development and advanced statistical data science methodologies.  Dr. Blum’s work supports multiple government and commercial efforts. She designed and developed application programming interfaces (APIs) for LMI clients and the Defense Intelligence Agency (CIO) mission. Additionally, she was a senior IT strategist and helped DIA develop critical cyber infrastructure. Prior to that assignment, Dr. Blum worked at a federal agency as a data scientist where she created machine learning algorithms for cyber security missions and wrote reports for senior leadership. Currently, she is involved in advanced cyber security technologies and business solutions for Jacobs. In her spare time, Dr. Blum enjoys voice acting and has performed in radio commercials.Charles Ramsay is an accomplished data science, machine learning, and senior leadership professional with a strong software development background, combining 20+ years of technical expertise with a customer mission focus. He is recognized for leading multiple software initiatives in programs of record and in research and development domains. His team’s current contract portfolio includes cyber research, data science analytics, machine learning, statistical analysis, data engineering, and development for the Intelligence Community (IC), DoD DARPA and other federal agencies.

Eric Oddo, Environmental Engineering Program Manager, Western Placer Waste Management Authority, has worked for the WPWMA for more than 23 years and is responsible for overseeing operations at the WPWMA’s mixed waste MRF, green waste composting facility and sanitary landfill.  He directs WPWMA’s Renewable Placer Waste Action Plan facility master planning and regional circular economy development project. Mr. Oddo is also in charge of developing and managing the WPWMA’s roughly $50 million annual budget.  Prior to joining the WPWMA, Mr. Oddo worked for several private environmental engineering firms where he specialized in landfill gas generation rate modeling and landfill gas collection system design. Janet Goodrich, P.E., Waste Solutions Global Technology Leader, Jacobs, has worked in the waste management field since the late 1980s and has been with Jacobs in the Sacramento, California office for over 26 years. Ms. Goodrich’s work experience in the waste management industry is diverse and varied. In addition to leading the Renewable Placer Waste Action Plan consulting project, she is currently involved in a variety of global and regional organic waste management, circular economy, and other waste solutions projects and leverages Jacobs’s waste solutions team for circular economy projects globally.  

Nicola Enoch's world fell apart in 2004 when a pediatrician advised that her then newborn son Tom has Down syndrome. Nicola has since gone on to become a strong advocate and in 2017 created  Positive about Down syndrome (PADS) to ensure expectant and new parents of a baby with Down syndrome in the UK have access to contemporary information and ongoing support. PADS also delivers training to medical professionals to address the discrimination and stigma that all too often prevail around those with Down syndrome, and she lobbies policy makers and Parliamentarians to demand equality for those with Down syndrome. Stephanie Bywater has been with Jacobs for 20 years.  She is a full-time member of its Transportation operations team in the UK and is active in a number of the employee networks, holding a leadership position in the Women's Network and ACE (Access. Connect. Empower., which champions accessibility, community and opportunity for caregivers and employees with disabilities).  Her passion for inclusion steered her early career in accessibility and inclusive design, accumulating in a Masters degree.  From 2010 onward, she chose to pursue project management of rail and subsequent highways schemes. She is a great advocate of bringing her whole self to work and provides some great insight about raising her children, one of whom Jared (4) has Down syndrome.   Lara Jumagdao has been with Jacobs for almost 16 years. She is part of the Cities and Places Middle East Team, based in Qatar, and is an active member of the employee networks, holding a regional leadership position in the ACE and Women's network. Lara is an architect and is also an architectural fire and life safety specialist with broad experience in Middle East code compliance and approvals. She is a mom of three (Monique, Lorenzo and 16-year old Jasmine who has Down syndrome). Since 2015, her outreach has been focused on helping Filipino families with family members with disabilities especially during the festive season.  

Dr. Phillip Anz-Meador is the Jacobs Principal Scientist for Orbital Debris within the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) at Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, and corporate subject matter expert on space debris and the space environment. Since joining the ODPO in 1985, Dr. Anz-Meador has initiated and led significant, fundamental efforts in space traffic and debris characterization, all aspects of modeling, radar and in situ measurements, mitigation, protection, and remediation. He is the recipient of the NASA Astronaut Corps’ Silver Snoopy award.  He is a member of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Committee on Space Debris. He succeeded Mr. Don Kessler as editor of the Springer journal Space Debris during its publication life, is the Technical Editor of the ODPO Orbital Debris Quarterly Newsletter (ODQN), and regularly contributes to the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the AMOS Technical Conference and other conferences and workshops.

Astronaut Charlie Duke is one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966, and went on to serve in 5 different Apollo missions to the Moon:member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 10CAPCOM for Apollo 11, the first manned landing on the Moonbackup lunar module pilot on Apollo 13lunar module pilot on Apollo 16backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 17As lunar module pilot of Apollo 16 (April 16-27, 1972) Mr. Duke was accompanied on the fifth manned lunar mission by John W. Young (spacecraft commander) and Thomas K. Mattingly II (command module pilot).In December 1975, Duke retired from NASA to enter private business in San Antonio. He entered the USAF Reserves in 1975 and served as Mobilization Augmentee to Commander AF Basic Military Training Center and to Commander USAF Recruiting Service. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1979 and retired in June, 1986. Since 1976, Mr. Duke has been involved in a wide variety of business and is currently a public speaker of international renown on topics that range from delivering under pressure, to team preparedness and space exploration.

Craig Clifton is Jacobs’ global technology lead for resilience and climate change. He is based in Bendigo, Australia. Craig has a master’s degree in forest science and specializes in climate change and natural hazards vulnerability, risk and resilience. He works with a wide variety of public and private sector clients on climate and natural hazards risk and resilience in transportation infrastructure and for water and energy utilities. He also works on opportunities to abate emissions or create carbon offsets in the land sector. Craig is part of a working group within Jacobs that is developing and implementing its response to TCFD recommendations on climate risk governance and management.Adam Liddle is a Director in Jacobs’ Office of Global Climate Response & ESG, a corporate function which acts as the connecting point for Jacobs’ go-to-market solutions for energy transition, decarbonization, adaptation and resilience, and natural resource stewardship. During his time with Jacobs, Adam has managed high profile multi-disciplinary client projects delivering sustainable outcomes for people and planet and has been central to the development of PlanBeyond, Jacobs' sustainability strategy. From that platform the organization has undergone significant transformation resulting in the implementation of Science Based Targets, the launch of digital climate/sustainability tools, a fully quantitative climate risk assessment in line with TCFD guidelines, and significantly improved ESG ratings. Adam is currently leading a working group looking at further embedding climate risk and opportunities assessment across each of Jacobs market strategies. Adam is an accredited Project Manager; Chartered Member of the Institute of Waste Management; and member of various Scottish climate action industry working groups.

Dr. Jennifer Blum, an astrophysicist, is Senior Director Data Scientist for Jacobs CMS Cyber & Intelligence Business Unit. She is the second African American woman to ever graduate with a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Michigan. Her doctorate focused on using X-ray satellites to determine how fast black holes and neutron stars spin. Her current expertise is in cyber security algorithm development and advanced statistical data science methodologies.  Dr. Blum’s work supports multiple government and commercial efforts. She designed and developed application programming interfaces (APIs) for LMI clients and the Defense Intelligence Agency (CIO) mission. Additionally, she was a senior IT strategist and helped DIA develop critical cyber infrastructure. Prior to that assignment, Dr. Blum worked at a federal agency as a data scientist where she created machine learning algorithms for cyber security missions and wrote reports for senior leadership. Currently, she is involved in advanced cyber security technologies and business solutions for Jacobs. In her spare time, Dr. Blum enjoys voice acting and has performed in radio commercials.David Morgareidge has over 40 years’ experience in analyzing and optimizing the operational and financial performance of the built environment through the use of virtual integrated digital design tools, including Digital Twins. His project approach first defines the boundaries of the solution space, then exhausts that space, using discrete event or agent based simulation tools linked to optimization engines, and finally rank orders hundreds of solutions based on the client’s Key Performance Indicators that define success for each unique project. David has led the technical groups that use these tools and has helped shape the complete digital strategy of an A/E firm as its Chief Information Officer. The ROIs on his process modeling and simulation projects have ranged from 10:1 to 20:1, with first cost reductions of up to $8M and annual staff cost reductions of $763K. At Jacobs, David is the Director of Predictive Analytics, overseeing and directing the application of advanced operational modeling and simulation tools and advanced data analytics to provide highly optimized, objective, fact-based design solutions across multiple sectors and services. 

Wishing you and yours the very best holiday season, from all your friends at Jacobs...