By Jacqueline L. Patterson, Ed.D., P.E., CCM, M.ASCE
I wish I’d known earlier in my career what I now understand about recruiting and retaining women — especially women of color — in rail engineering. If so, I would have acted with greater urgency because it takes more than 20 years to move a girl from her first spark of interest in STEM to a lasting career in rail.
That journey begins in high school with encouragement in math and science, continues through college with sustained support, and culminates in a workplace that must be ready to retain her.
In 1970s Nicaragua, a third of my civil engineering classmates were women. But after immigrating to Canada, I was one of only a handful of women in my civil engineering cohort at Concordia University.
Years later, when I entered the rail industry in Los Angeles, women were nearly absent, especially in track and design.
After working for decades as a rail engineer, I began teaching an introduction to railroad engineering class at the University of Southern California and, recently, pursuing my doctorate, with a concentration in organizational change and leadership.
During my dissertation research, I interviewed and surveyed women across the industry, which remains mostly male. What I found was both sobering and clear: The rail industry is on the brink of a talent shortage, and the small number of women engineers currently in the field are approaching retirement with too few ready to take their place.
What’s more, many had never considered rail because no one introduced the idea. Those who thrived cited mentorship as the single most powerful factor in their persistence. Childcare and support structures help, but mentorship opened doors and built confidence.
This is something the rail industry needs to understand, especially since there are few new candidates. If we want a sustainable future in rail, mentorship must be a priority — not an afterthought.
Jacqueline L. Patterson, Ed.D., P.E., CCM, M.ASCE is the cofounder and CEO of Zephyr Rail in Orange, California.
This article first appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of Civil Engineering as “Wish I'd Known.”
