Meet Ilka Rodríguez Calero!

In today's blog, we present the wonderful Ilka Rodríguez Calero!

Ilka has a PhD in Design Science with a Mechanical Engineering background.

Pronouns: She/her/hers

From: Puerto Rico

What motivated you to be a person in that field?

I was driven by curiosity, and after several experiences with engineering design as an undergrad in mechanical engineering, I realized I wanted to understand better how design practitioners did their work, made design decisions, and involved people in their design processes.

Now I see design as a possibility; instead of accepting things as they are, I get to interrogate them and ask myself, "what if...?" That is really exciting and motivating.

What have been the main challenges you have encountered throughout your career, And what did you learn from them?

Many of the challenges I have encountered had to do with the environments where that work happened. Sometimes overcoming prejudice has been a challenge, but also overcoming the self-doubt that can emerge as a result of being in those environments.

I have learned from these challenges to build safety and security within myself while also finding my people (my community), to build experiences of mastery (i.e., furthering my knowledge and developing my skills), to speak my truth, and to always lend a hand to others, sharing what I have learned and gained generously.

When has been a time that you felt empowered?

This year I had a very important presentation where I took a small risk and talked about things I wanted to talk about within engineering design, not just the bounds I felt had been important to uphold earlier in my career.

I discussed period management from a socially-engaged design perspective. I unpacked the idea that finding ways to improve how people who menstruate manage their periods is a problem space with social and technical dimensions. I felt empowered because I thought I offered a counter-narrative to things that I had internalized my engineering background was supposed to be about (e.g., motors, cars, airplanes) and connected important parts that I felt were missing from my training.

Why are you a Girl in Civil?

I am secretly a built environment geek, and I see a lot of overlaps between built environment design and other design domains. I love the mission and all that GiC has built, and I am super honored to peer into the stories and experiences of your community.

What advice would you share with others?

I am a big advocate for finding spaces where you can be your unique, fullest self. I would encourage people to explore their unique attributes and what makes them tick, then try to find the spaces where that is accepted and ideally enthusiastically embraced!