Meet Carlisle Carroll, a passionate young professional (YP) who joined SCS Engineers as a summer intern in June 2022. Carlisle worked as a part-time intern during her senior year at North Carolina State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in May 2023. After graduation, she joined the Raleigh, NC, team as a full-time Associate Professional. Jasmyn Oliver of SCS’s Mid-Atlantic Team met with Carlisle one-on-one to hear about her experiences with SCS’s Internship Program and the start of her environmental career.
Congratulations, Carlisle, on your first anniversary with SCS! You started with SCS in June 2022 as a summer intern. How did you learn about the SCS’s internship program?
Thank you! My family owns a construction company, and I worked on a few projects during the summer of my junior year. They were the contractors for a county landfill expansion project in North Carolina. One day that summer, I went to a progress meeting with my mom, who is a general contractor, and met two SCSers from the Raleigh office. They said, “You should apply to our internship program. We’d love to have you in Raleigh.” So, I took their advice and applied. I came in and met everybody, and it worked out nicely.
What was your favorite part about being an SCS intern?
My favorite aspect of my internship was learning more about landfill design. I loved transferring my work on the plan sets and details on CAD into the field and seeing the construction happening in real time. So, it was really nice to be a part of something I was specifically interested in within civil engineering that I couldn’t get a lot of knowledge or experience in throughout college.
Now that you are full-time, can you talk about your responsibilities?
As an Associate Professional, I assist the Raleigh, NC, office with landfill engineering and design projects. I conduct site visits, provide project assistance, and design work in Civil3D. Most of my work involves acting as the county’s inspector, providing Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) to ensure everything’s going smoothly from the start of a project. I think it’s easy for people starting their careers to get comfortable behind their desk and their CAD work. As a young engineer, I believe that going beyond the screen and gaining on-site experience is especially important.
What inspired you to pursue an environmental career in civil engineering, specifically solid waste and landfill design?
My family started their construction company in 1965. And back then, there were hardly any women working in construction. I grew up watching my Nana and my mom, a general contractor, growing in the field. They’re definitely the reason I got into civil engineering and are my biggest role models. My interest in the solid waste industry and landfill design stems from my experience working with them on landfill projects at their construction company.
How would you describe SCS’s culture in three words?
Inclusive – I think working at a company with a strong female presence is awesome. I am very interested in promoting opportunities for females to enter STEM careers, which I’m incredibly passionate about. At SCS, I’ve interacted with many different types of people from different backgrounds and careers, and I appreciate that.
Supportive – Everyone here cares about your success and will give you the support to help you achieve your individual goals and how you picture your perfect career. As a young professional, SCS has a lot of resources and tools to help you grow exponentially from the start of your career.
Versatile – I get the feel of being in a small office where I have those personal connections with everyone and get one-on-one guidance and mentorship. At the same time, I get the advantage of working on a variety of large projects because SCS is a large company.
Do you feel that your work at SCS has made a difference to our environment?
I play a crucial role in assisting our engineers, who positively impact the environment. Time under tension is what makes an impact. Now that I am full-time, I am going to have more opportunities to continue making a positive impact on the environment.
What is the coolest project you’ve worked on?
I am providing CQA for one of our landfill clients on an exposed geomembrane cover project. The landfill will eventually reopen this area and remove the exposed geomembrane cover. They chose to do this project based on an odor study and to address community concerns. I think it’s great that a project like this gives the community what they need and want.
What advice would you give to future interns and YPs at SCS?
This sounds so cliché, but I’d tell them to ask all the questions. It’s been the most important thing. As an intern, it lets them know you’re passionate and want to be involved. You want to use the internship to do what its purpose is, which is to learn and grow.
What are you looking forward to while at SCS?
Once I get settled in, I want to get more involved in things like our young professionals’ group and take up outreach opportunities to get more females involved in the industry. But I’m also geared up to work on big projects!
Our clients and SCSers are excited to have Carlisle, another amazing YP, join SCS Engineers as an Associate Professional!
SCS Project Director, Kenton Yang, PE, shared his enthusiasm for Carlisle joining the Raleigh team,
“We were excited that Carlisle joined us as an intern and felt the program was a success for her and SCS Engineers. Her proactive interest in joining us part-time and now full-time was impressive, and we are fortunate to have her at SCS. I hope it’s the beginning of recruiting the best and brightest from NC State!”
Join SCS Engineers
If you are interested in the internship program for the 2024 summer, please visit SCS’s Careers page from September 2023 through January 2024 to apply.
Please check our open positions for those interested in a rewarding environmental career as an employee-owner.
SCS Engineers is expanding its Phoenix, Arizona, office to meet the growing demand for sustainable environmental consulting and engineering. Recent employee-owners joining the firm are pictured upper left to right, including Samantha Montgomery, a technical associate; Mike Bradford, senior professional engineer; Cynthia Neitzel, a professional engineer; and Taylor Goins, field services working as part of SCS’s comprehensive team.
Montgomery’s focus is to prepare monthly, semi-annual, and annual greenhouse gas reports, along with processing and analyzing the data associated with those reports. She specializes in air quality compliance and permitting, particularly for landfills.
Bradford brings more than 20 years of experience in civil engineering and project management. He has been the principal engineer and engineer of record for a wide range of public and private sector capital projects in Arizona and across the country for solid waste landfills and other public works civil projects.
As a landfill project manager focusing on landfill gas collection and control systems and compliance reporting, Neitzel brings more than 20 years of experience. She has a background in landfill design, construction quality assurance, and air quality permitting and compliance.
Goins provides clients with landfill gas monitoring and other related environmental monitoring services, helping them reduce operational costs and protect air quality. He also operates and maintains other environmental pollution control systems.
“Mike and Cynthia bring invaluable experience creating and overseeing environmental solutions for municipalities and businesses, which provide essential services in our region,” said Pat Sullivan, senior vice president of SCS Engineers. “They, along with the rest of the team, join SCS to serve our clients who are actively seeking to protect public health and the environment as part of doing business, whether that’s remediating property, operating a landfill, lowering their carbon footprint, or running a fuel station.
SCS Engineers’ environmental solutions and technology directly result from our experience and dedication to our clients responsible for safeguarding the environment as they deliver their services and products. For more information about joining this remarkable national firm, please visit SCS Engineers Careers.
These are a few words to describe our 2022 Conrad Quality Award Recipients. Celebrating the accomplishments of these SCS employee-owners, the Conrad Award highlights the level of quality we seek as a company.
Click here to read about our colleagues.
Conrad Quality Focus Awards recognize SCSers for their sustained quality performance above and beyond what is required by their job. The Awards Program helps keep our attention on quality every day — something we all strive for to meet and exceed our clients’ needs and expectations.
Recently published in Zweig is an article by two SCS Engineers professionals discussing career growth. Montgomery Spillane, PG, a project professional, and Dillon Reio, GIT, a senior project professional at the firm, provide their perspectives in this short and inspiring article entitled Accelerating Development.
The co-authors make valuable points, including that career growth is not a linear path, then provide advice for career accelerating growth and responsibilities.
SCS’s CEO, Jim Walsh records Town Halls every two weeks for employees – our executives like to stay in touch. He just happened to finish a segment on SCS’s Mentorship Program for his Town Hall. Both mentor and mentee reflect the same advice in the Zweig article; they point out a few more benefits for both managers and young professionals during the discussion, such as discovering new pathways, networks and staying on goal.
It is gratifying to observe SCS YPs not only embracing our 51+ year culture of client focus, but they’re also growing our pay-it-forward attitude to build even more value into SCS Engineers every day. It’s truly wonderful to work with so many gifted people.
Our SCS Co-Authors:
Montgomery Spillane, PG, a project professional
Dillon Reio, GIT, a senior project professional
