My name is Adam Vieux, and I'm a Civil Engineering graduate at KU class of 2010. I was born in Lawrence, and spent most of my childhood in Lawrence with the exception of a few years that my family lived in the western Kansas towns of Greensburg and Larned. Looking back, western Kansas life was a short, interesting time in my childhood, and although I claim Lawrence as my hometown, I've always had a drawn to the open spaces and small town life that I spent a short amount of my childhood around.
After graduating high school I enlisted in the Navy and shipped off to basic training in Chicago, followed by nuclear power school and prototype training in Charleston, SC and Ballston Spa NY, respectively. While in the Navy's pipeline training I learned a lot about nuclear power's application in the submarine force. I also learned a lot about work ethic, which is something I actually lacked in high school and before. I was trained as an electrician and a nuclear power plant operator, the jobs I did for 6 years prior to my arrival at KU. While in the pipeline I also met my amazing wife Catherine, who I'm sure all the first year SELF fellows remember. Catherine also served in the Navy as a nuclear power plant operator, and has supported me in nearly everything I have done. I would not be where I am today if it weren't for her. I will write more on that later. After completing all my nuclear training, I reported to the USS Wyoming out of Kings Bay GA in mid 2001. From 2001 to 2005. I worked in electrical division primarily standing watch in the propulsion plant of the ship and performing maintenance on all the ship's electrical gear. In 2005 I interviewed for and was accepted to a special projects billet on the research submarine NR-1. Catherine and I moved to Groton, CT and I worked on Submarine NR-1 until 2007 when I was accepted into the program I attended KU under. While on submarine NR-1 we completed a shipyard period in Portsmouth, NH. Following our shipyard period, the mini sub conducted geologic slope stability surveys off the coast of Virginia, as well as an unsuccessful search for the Civil War submarine USS Alligator off the coast of North Carolina. My family and I left Groton in 2007 and moved to Lawrence where the Navy gave me 3 years to complete an Engineering Degree. During the application process at KU, I received information about a new program in the Engineering School designed to develop leaders in industry, and I couldn't resist the urge to apply, even though knew it was likely to add to my workload as a student.
After interviewing at KU in the spring of 2007, I was accepted into the inaugural class of SELF fellows. I met some truly amazing engineers in the SELF Fellowship, and I've never regretted my decision to apply for and participate in the program. I attended KU on the Navy's dime, primarily to get an engineering degree and continue serving in the submarine force as a naval officer. Line officers in the Navy are required to have college degrees, with science and engineering degrees preferred. When I arrived at KU, I intended to earn an engineering degree in three years, and I felt that would demand enough of my time. I also believed my experience both in leadership and engineering prior to arriving at school would make my education truly a "check in the box" and do little more than meet a Navy requirement. After three years of engineering school and two years of follow on training as I've settled into my new job, I feel I walked away from KU with much more than that. My three years at KU taught me about the design side of the engineering systems I work with on a daily basis, as well as the role of industry in my job.
I'll provide a couple examples: In the working world of the Navy, engineers are often cursed more than anything. To overly generalize, and paint in broad strokes across the fleet, the design side of engineering is seen as a group of people away from the deck plate, largely solving problems independent of operations. An example I often use is one of motor generators on the Ohio Class submarines like the USS Wyoming I served on had motor generators to convert DC to AC, and they are simple rotating machines that convert electrical power back and forth as it is needed. As an electrician, I performed maintenance on these machines monthly that involved removing the covers and cleaning out the inside of the machine. The overall design of the ship placed several pipes in front of one of the accesses to the machine however, and what should be relatively easy monthly maintenance ended up being a contortionist act that involved finding the smallest electrician we could (not me) and having him twist around the interfering pipes to get at the machine's internals. Needless to say, much cursing was had by many in my work center every month. It was only when I got to my design year at KU that I started to appreciate how an engineer, more concerned with getting the differential equations side of the electrical engineering problem right, could neglect seeing how access cover placement affects the personnel maintaining the machine.
On the engineering side, the Navy gave me little to no exposure to private industry engineering as an operator and electrician. The operational Navy interacts with engineering mostly during repair periods where a tech rep or two might come down from whatever company makes the particular equipment to assist ship's force. The design side of engineering is largely invisible to the operators and supervisors involved in taking a ship out to sea. Many private engineering companies are involved in the design, construction and maintenance of the Navy's ships and submarines however, and the look I got into that world from SELF in the form of guest speakers and tours is something I will remember and apply throughout my career. I've already had the chance to interact positively with private engineering firms on several projects and this is where SELF has made a difference in my life. Now that I've summarized how my foundation of engineering education and private industry exposure has shaped the way I see the world, I will attempt in the coming weeks to expand on a few ideas that have contributed to my success. Thank you for reading; it is my hope that these pieces are informative, useful and applicable.
Hope you all have a good week!
Adam