Jay Bower
Year Graduated: 
1984

Manager, Sustainability

Puget Sound Energy

Job Description

I manage a group of engineers and scientists at an electric and gas utility company; we report on sustainability-related activities, programs, etc., and are responsible for federal and state reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to my current role, I was an environmental consultant for over 30 years and ran a small environmental and geotechnical engineering consulting firm.

Why did you choose this program?

It was on a convoluted path... I was envisioning being a park ranger (paid to hike) so thought it made sense to be in the Forestry program and then moved on to Wildlife Management—neither program was a good fit for me. I met with someone in the career office and they suggested I visit the Environmental Resources Engineering Department since I was still taking math classes not required for either program. I also liked aqueous chemistry (and clean water), so that took me to the water quality option. A good fit.

How did this program prepare you for your job?

For most of my career, I worked on groundwater contamination issues, from facility permitting to site characterization and remediation. While I did not study groundwater at Humboldt, I did get the water chemistry and problem solving preparation that made me successful as a consultant and manager. One of the great practices that was drilled into us was to ask ourselves "does this answer make sense?" and "can you ball-park what the answer should be as a reality check?" Having worked in consulting for decades, I can attest that there are a lot of programs that must not teach that approach. Lastly, the program provded great preparation for the professsional enginering exam.

What did you enjoy most about the program?

The faculty... they all clearly wanted to be there and their enthusiasm was contagious. It's been over 40 years and I can still "see" many of them in front of the chalkboard. Also, the applied nature of the elective classes—when you analyzed a water sample, it might be city tap water or from a wastewater treatment marsh—the results had real world meaning.

What would you say to prospective students who are thinking about applying to this program?

This program is great preparation for solving real-world problems. Sounds simple, but you'll be putting in a lot of work so it's good to know you're pursuing a degree where you'll be well prepared to contribute.

Other comments?

This is my "when we were kids we had to walk through snow to school, uphill both ways" story... When we took FORTRAN class, we used punch cards—look it up, it was a thing. One card per line of code. Oh, and your senior project report was typed, on a typewriter. Times have changed, but the program's still great.