It's #EngineersWeek and we celebrate our members who are professional engineers. We are spotlighting the accomplishments, thoughts, and motivations of a few of those members who inspire us - including Ramon Padilla, PE with Terracon. Ramon is a Project Manager serving on several major projects for the Arizona Department of Transportation including the Interstate 10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project and the Interstate 17 Improvement Project.

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How did you decide on your career path? 

Growing up I was surrounded by a few civil engineers in my extended family, including my dad having 2 parallel careers of leading his structural engineering firm while also being a professor, so in retrospect I picked up on that and perhaps got a little bit of a head start.  I decided to specialize in geotechnical engineering to design structures from the ground down, which is opposite to the structural engineering exposure I grew up with of designing structures from the ground up.

What do you like best about your job?   

At Terracon we take on a very wide variety of projects including City, County, and State transportation projects, but by far the best thing about my job is completing these challenging projects with the talented group of people that we have consolidated in our geotechnical department and offices.

Who has influenced your work the most? 

I have been fortunate to have had a few different mentors throughout my career and I am not sure I have a single person for an answer.  Therefore, I would like to think that I prefer being influenced by the exemplary skills, knowledge and talents of many.  Further, this is easily achieved with the engineering/transportation community present in Arizona, which counts with many examples of individuals continuously advancing our profession.    

What has been a lesson or challenge you’ve had to overcome as an engineer? 

Change perhaps is a universal challenge, and maybe a little more accentuated for introvert engineers that gravitate towards constant order.  Finding that the lively part of what we do is engineering a solution to keep up with change helps overcome this challenge.

Why do you think it’s important for members of an engineering team to come from diverse backgrounds? 

Me as well as our group have found diversity broadens the range of knowledge, skills and talents required for engineering challenges allowing not only to find a solution, but many times an unexpected better solution.

What’s one thing you can’t live without? 

The one thing is a split in two; first, my Hewlett Packard 48G+ calculator, which is not manufactured anymore and has lasted me about 20 years and hopefully will last another 20; and second, the hotdogs from El Guero Canelo in Tucson, where being based out of Phoenix, any project in Tucson that I need to go look at requires a pit stop at the hotdog place.

If you were to have lunch with anyone, who would it be?  

Well, surely at the hotdog place.  Perhaps any individual I can pick on their brain and learn something new.  Not really engineering nor transportation, but Sandra Day O’Connor comes to mind.

Favorite quote?

Never be satisfied.