Amaris Yenney

Amaris Yenney is an environmental engineering student at the University of Arizona, now in her fifth and final year, who currently serves as Co-Founder & President of UA Plant Futures and works as an Environmental Services Intern at Shimmick Construction. With no environmental department at her organization, she is independently building a company-wide environmental policy for a construction firm managing 50 to 100 active projects. Her work focuses on regulatory compliance and sustainability, including evaluating water use and energy consumption and tying eco-friendly practices to a competitive business strategy. Drawn to engineering by a strong aptitude for math and science and a desire to make a lasting difference in her community, Amaris has completed three internships across field engineering, business development, and environmental services. On campus, she has represented the College of Engineering and her discipline as an Engineering Ambassador and previously worked as a Recruitment Assistant in the Dean of Academic Affairs Office. She has also spoken on women in STEM and engineering panels. After being recruited for the role, Amaris co-founded and now leads Plant Futures, a University of Arizona chapter apart of an international nonprofit with more than 100 chapters in North America. She built it from scratch, deciding which executive positions were needed, conducting interviews, and overseeing operations. Having faced assumptions as a young woman in a male-dominated field, she meets them with professionalism and determination. She hopes to one day start her own company with a branch dedicated to supporting women and low-income students in STEM.