Her Story
About Amy
Amy BeanCook serves as a drainage engineer and team lead in the civil engineering field, where she has spent about 10 years, including roughly 2 years in her current leadership role. She began her career in traffic engineering as an engineer in training before transitioning to the drainage side, focusing on roadway drainage solutions that keep roads clear during storms and manage water afterward. Amy holds a bachelor's degree in engineering and has returned to school to pursue an MBA, building on her interest in marketing and business development. She is a board member of the WTS Northern Utah chapter and serves as outreach chair for TransportationU, where she has expanded student outreach through a partnership with the Utah STEM Action Center to reach the entire state via STEM Fest events. Amy was honored with the Rosa Parks Leadership Diversity Award from her WTS chapter for fostering a healthy, diverse workspace. She attributes her success to perseverance and values curiosity in approaching problems and conflicts. Amy advises young women entering the industry to seek support from mentors and professional organizations rather than navigating alone, and she aims to continue creating opportunities for others by building teams that support ongoing learning and development.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Amy
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to perseverance. When starting a new path, like when I started into marketing, it was not a one and done. It had to be repeated multiple times, had to come at it from different angles, different mentors, until I got where I wanted to be.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You don't have to do this on your own. There's support out there, whether that is other students or teachers, or there's programs out there, professional organizations. To help connect you with mentors that have been in the field for a while. I definitely recommend taking advantage of some of that.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
A lot of fields are feeling the pressure to do more with less, use more AI, learn faster, do more. We're all feeling the challenge of trying to do more while still developing our people. It's really easy to hand someone a task because they're good at it, but it takes a lot more effort to help them grow beyond that. On the opportunities side, civil engineering has the chance to shape lives and make the world a better, safer place every single day, even if the public doesn't notice when we do our job well.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
One of my top values is curiosity. When we approach problems or conflict with a sense of curiosity, it gives us an opportunity to find a mutual solution, or at least part with some understanding, even if it is still in disagreement.
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