WHY I SPEAK

Tori Shu - DoD

Many speakers try to excite students about their careers, and Tori Shu is no exception.

She does, after all, work on the multi-billion dollar Joint Strike Fighter Program, and her employer is none other than the Department of Defense. But what often appeals to the students even more than her own job is that of her customers. They are the pilots who fly for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines.

Shu grew up in Hampton, VA, where she attended Hampton High School. She went on to Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, and majored in Computer engineering. She was recruited right out of college to work for the Department of Defense. Currently, as Mission Computer Product Lead, she acts as a liaison between her customers and the plane’s creator, Lockheed Martin. She is responsible for evaluating potential designs for the jet to make sure they meet certain safety, performance, and environmental standards.

Her interest in talking to students stems directly from her own experiences growing up. “When I was in high school, we had a police man that came into our high school just to speak with us,” she says. “This guy made an impact on me. I wanted to do the same thing with others that he did with me.”

In addition, being in a distinct minority that is female engineers, she works especially hard to repel stereotypes that tend to scare women away from the field, such as impossible work and a pervasive pocket protector culture. She praises the progress that people have made in other fields that were traditionally male, such as medicine and law, but believes there has been little progress in engineering. More than once, she says, she has been in a room with a hundred other engineers, and been the only female. This is something she is dedicated to changing.

In the classroom, Shu builds her talk around personal experiences, and tells the students to “Use me as an example.” She talks about the challenges she faced growing up, and speaks of her failures as well as her successes. “I didn’t do well in all my classes, but that didn’t stop me,” she tells them. She goes on to ask students what their aspirations are, and for those with little confidence in their abilities, she just encourages them to try new things.

As a general technique, she says, “I key in on asking the students questions.” She not only tells students how important it is to get a well-paying job, but asks them why they want to make money in the first place. Each with their own reasons, she helps them lay out a path to make this life a reality. But, she reminds them, “everything’s hard work.”

 

Join Tori in the classroom this year >