Recently, Little Flower welcomed three engineers from PDC Machines as the latest installment of our Women’s Speaker Series. PDC Machines is a family-owned business that provides diaphragm gas compressors for Alternative Energy/Hydrogen refueling stations, Oil and Gas, especially gas, power generation, and many other industries worldwide. As a company, PDC works closely with its clients to both designs, create and install the best products for their specific needs. PDC currently has three fully equipped manufacturing facilities that, combined, take up over 65,000 square feet of space. The engineering staff at PDC is also incredibly distinguished. By utilizing the latest commercial engineering software, PDC engineers can design and engineer diaphragm compressors that fit the specific needs of their clients. Within its production facilities are fifteen of the most modern and sophisticated computerized, numerically controlled machining centers that allow them to perform machining operations for their compression systems. These include a computerized numerical cutting machine and a diaphragm laser cutting machine apparatus. PDC Machines is proud to be the world's largest hydrogen gas compressors manufacturing Hydrogen refueling station through SimpleFuel. SimpleFuel is an on-slide hydrogen generation, compression, storage and fueling appliance that utilizes electricity and water to produce high purity full cell grade hydrogen. SimpleFuel can convert 3.7 gallons of filtered water into enough hydrogen fuel to power a hydrogen powered vehicle over 360 miles. For more information on PDC Machines, please visit them at www.pdcmachines.com.

Little Flower senior Faith Cruz, who will be majoring in engineering next fall at Drexel, provided opening remarks on how she decided engineering was for her. We then welcomed Nihad Kaiseruddin, Lynelle Bozett, and Grace Shaib, three engineers from PDC. Nihad Kaiseruddin is a chemical and application engineer who works on worldwide business development. She is a graduate of Illinois Institute of Technology. Nihad has worked as a validation scientist at a pharmaceutical company prior. Lynelle Bozett, originally from New York, has her bachelor's in engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology. Grace Shaib graduated last spring from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. She has spent the last nine months on PDC’s hydrogen energy projects around the world. Their time with us was filled with a great overview of PDC Machines as a company, as well as their individual journeys in becoming engineers. They first explained how mechanical and chemical engineering are interchangeable, allowing one to maximize their talents in each. As a product engineer, Nihad deals with customers, clients, vendors, and departments to make sure the needs of their clients are taken care of. This puts an emphasis on communication and collaboration. They each explained to us the importance of persistence. For example, math was not always Lynelle’s strength. However, through dedication, she was able to learn and succeed, stating that “even if it is hard, do not give up.” Grace works closely with their sales team, also requiring communication with customers. Her primary focus is meeting the needs of her customers, something Grace takes great pride in.



As a product engineer, she designs the specific orders that come into PDC. This requires her to communicate with vendors as well to ensure that the project is ready to go before it is developed. She finds herself in the middle working with both the manufacturing and the customer. For Grace, the ability to see the final outcome of your project is “one of the most beautiful things about being an engineer.” Lynelle works in the r&d department, working with untested technology. This requires her to design, report, and troubleshoot equipment and machines. She also finds herself reporting back to customers often, ensuring they know how to work their machines. Her favorite park of engineering is the ability to fix things. While math does not overwhelm their days, it comes up a lot in understanding much of what they are working on. They also explained to us that while historically, engineering has been a male dominant field, such a trend is changing. Every day, more and more women empower the engineering field with their expertise. Grace stated that her college engineering classes consisted of 80 percent women. For her, the idea that women are male dominated is “just a state of mind.” She referenced scholarships and companies that heavily support women in STEM. They all recommended keeping an open mind and exposing yourself to different work environments. This allows you to grow and learn what aspects of the industry are best for you. Our presenters also emphasized being lifelong learners. No matter what field you work in, personal and professional development never, and we must be open to growth and learning.

To conclude, our guest engineers brough us outside where we were able to see a hydrogen powered car they brought along. Our students were amazed how quietly it started up. Instead of operating on electricity, as many of the electric cars do, this car operates fully on hydrogen. In the same way we fill our cars with gas at the station, this car fills with hydrogen. Fill up takes about 20 minutes and will run a car 400 miles, a fraction of time compared to electric vehicles. The only thing given off by these cars is water. This car has two, five-kilogram hydrogen storing tanks that can save consumers a lot of money compared to gas. Having this hydrogen powered car on campus was a great delight for the entire Little Flower Community. We appreciate Nihad, Lynelle, and Grace for the time they spent with us.