For Jennifer Peterson, a 1996 graduate of the College of Engineering, becoming a Hawkeye was never a question. The Davenport Central alum, who grew up watching Iowa athletics, followed in the footsteps of her parents and other family members. “I was a huge Hawkeye fan,” she said. “I never even wanted to go anywhere else.”
A foundation of success
At Iowa, Peterson quickly found her passion in civil engineering, fondly recalling classes with Forrest Holly and Wilfrid Nixon. She credits mentorship from Allen Bradley, who remains a civil and environmental engineering faculty member. They all shaped her academic experience and career readiness. Nixon encouraged her to join the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Student Chapter, where she attended leadership conferences in Washington, D.C., and Dallas, Texas. He tasked students with collecting at least 25 business cards at a networking event.
“He was always pushing us outside our comfort zone to help us succeed,” she said. “Gaining confidence and attending those conferences prepared me for the real world, helping me speak up and be assertive.
Professors not only taught the theoretical side of engineering, but more importantly, the real-world applications, she said.
From the San Diego Zoo to floodplains
After earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Peterson launched her career at a large architectural and engineering firm in downtown Chicago, working on major transportation projects.
In 2001, she headed west to San Diego, where she has spent more than two decades in consulting focused on stormwater, drainage, and water quality. She started her California life at Boyle Engineering, working on recycled and potable water projects, including ways to capture and reuse stormwater.
Now at NV5 (formerly Nolte Associates), she has worked on a range of projects from inventorying storm drain inlets inside the animal enclosures at the world-famous San Diego Zoo, to performing high-level drainage analysis for renewable wind and solar projects, to supporting large-scale FEMA floodplain efforts.
As a senior project manager, she focuses on stormwater and water quality engineering projects and provides consulting services to many of the local municipalities.
Peterson is also an active leader in the California Stormwater Quality Association, which honored her contributions in developing statewide training on the construction stormwater permit.
At the end of her busy day, she credits Iowa’s engineering program — and its small, focused class sizes — with giving her a strong communication foundation and the confidence to be successful.
“Communication is one of the most important skills in my job today,” she said. “I am so very grateful to Iowa for helping me with these skills, as sometimes they outweigh the technical skills of the day-to-day job.”