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“SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES FIRST FEMALE ENGINEER RETIRES” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E918-E919 on May 20, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES FIRST FEMALE ENGINEER RETIRES
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HON. ELLEN O. TAUSCHER
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, May 20, 1998
Mrs. TAUSCHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Betty Carrell, a constituent from Livermore, California and one of science's true female pioneers.
While at Oregon State University in the 1950s, Betty Carrell was the only female student enrolled in the university's engineering program. In fact, because of her welding classes, Mrs. Carrell was the only woman allowed to wear pants on campus.
In 1959, Mrs. Carrell graduated and was quickly hired by Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California where she became their first female engineer. After five ground breaking years, where she was the only woman among the 350 engineers at Sandia, Betty left just prior to the birth of her first child.
While raising her two children, who it should be noted are now both mechanical engineers, Betty somehow found time to serve on the Livermore School Board, including two terms as its president. Among her other civic activities, she also sat on the Chabot Community College Foundation and the Livermore Chamber of Commerce.
In 1984, she returned to Sandia where she worked on a number of projects including solar thermal technology, warhead dismantling programs and toxic waste reduction. Betty is most proud of the environmental management work she did in Washington, D.C. for two years while on loan to the Department of Energy. Earlier this year at the age of 60 and after 20 fulfilling years at Sandia, Betty Carrell retired from the working world.
Betty Carrell is truly an inspiration to young woman everywhere who dream of entering the workplace as scientists and engineers. At an early age, she shared her parent's love of math and science so it was a natural for her to want to become an engineer.
Betty can be delighted with the progress women have made in the sciences. Of the 630 technical engineers at Sandia today, 107, 17 percent of them, are women. Betty Carrell should take great pride in the trail she blazed for women everywhere in engineering and in the sciences. We in the 10th Congressional District are extremely fortunate to have someone as special and as courageous as Betty Carrell living in our community. I applaud her for her efforts on behalf of women everywhere and I wish her the best in her well-deserved retirement.
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