77. Dr. Shelly Hagerman; PhD Engineering & Public Policy

Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM

Dr. Shelly Hagerman is a consultant in the energy & utility industry. She specializes in Distributed Energy Resources and Electric Vehicle Strategy & Data Analytics. She has a PhD in Engineering & Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, a BS in Engineering and a BA in Music. Shelly is extremely passionate about both her career and piano.
Episode Notes

Shelly Hagerman provides insights into the career her PhD in Engineering & Public Policy has brought. It's a unique combination that brings together two incredibly important facets in the utility industry. She shares what led her down that path, how she went from an undergrad degree directly into a PhD program and how music has played an instrumental (pun intended) part in her life.

Shelly also shares some health challenges she faced a few years ago, how she overcame them and what that situation taught her about life and the importance of taking time for yourself.

Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio

Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check

In the United States, a Master’s degree is not required for admission to most PhD programs. It is possible and not unusual to be admitted to a PhD program straight out of undergrad. (www.academicpositions.com)

Women's colleges in the United States are private single-sex U.S. institutions of higher education that only admit who identify as female (i.e. cis, trans, and nonbinary) students. They are often liberal arts colleges. There were approximately 31 active women's colleges in the United States in 2018, down from a peak of 281 such colleges in the 1960s.

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are small, modular, energy generation and storage technologies that provide electric capacity or energy where you need it. Typically producing less than 10 megawatts (MW) of power, DER systems can usually be sized to meet your particular needs and installed on site. (www.nrel.gov)

Electric Vehicles (EVs) have a battery instead of a gasoline tank, and an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are a combination of gasoline and electric vehicles, so they have a battery, an electric motor, a gasoline tank, and an internal combustion engine. (wikipedia)

Finger Lakes - a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes in an area called the Finger Lakes region in New York

Vestibular Neuritis - a disorder that affects the nerve of the inner ear called the vestibulocochlear nerve. This nerve sends balance and head position information from the inner ear to the brain. When this nerve becomes swollen (inflamed), it disrupts the way the information would normally be interpreted by the brain.