In this episode we meet Mary Ensch, a Senior Staff Professional at Geosyntec Consultants. Mary received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

Mary is now using her passion for sustainability and the environment to jump start a career focused on environmental remediation and litigation for emerging contaminants.

Mary shares her journey in science and how she has become such an accomplished professional in her career. Including:

• How her natural curiosity as a child to solve problems, building, and her passion for the environment led her to the field of science.
• How her father’s passion and talent for repairing and reusing things, helped set the foundation for Mary to be a first-generation college student leading to a Ph.D. in a challenging major.
• The importance of having friends you can rely on to get you through the challenging times during your education.
• Finding an internship to help pay expenses through college while gaining experience.
• Be willing to try new things and don’t be afraid to make a change.

Mary has three first author publications and has been featured as a co-author on two others. In addition, she currently has one patent application on an electrode apparatus for removing contaminants from a fluid. She recently was awarded a patent for an electrochemical method for sample pretreatment for metals determination (February 2023). Mary had the pleasure of presenting her research at numerous conferences in Canada, Germany, Italy, and the United States.

She=mc2 is proud to be sponsored by Agilent Technologies. Agilent is a leader in life sciences advancing quality of life through people, products, planet, and prosperity. Agilent Technologies is a global leader in the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets, delivering insight and innovation toward advancing the quality of life. Agilent’s full range of solutions includes instruments, software, services, and expertise that provide trusted answers to our customers' most challenging questions. Learn more at www.agilent.com.

sh(e)=mc2 is a new podcast that celebrates the light, energy, and power of women leaders in science. Maya Murshak, CEO of Merit Laboratories is the host, Heidi Komar of BlueOpps, LLC is the executive producer, and Zoe Komar of Michigan State University is the audio engineer. To connect with our podcast or suggest a future guest, please visit our website.