Fede also credits her communication skills for success to more company-focused efforts, which also led to her recent recognition. She created employee retention, advancement and professional development initiatives to prepare Duffield Associates for a merge with two other companies—Hull & Associates and HSW Consulting. Fede’s efforts enabled a smooth transition for her multi-divisional company to take on a larger role in the environmental engineering field, now spanning the entire East Coast.

While interning with Duffield during her senior year at UD, Fede never would have guessed she would be seeing so much success as an environmental engineer in more than a decade with the company. She hopes those looking to pursue the career “stick with it” to see where it can take them.

“My mother was my biggest inspiration for my interest in the environment, working for the largest water company in the state for many years, and letting me tag along for the different environment activities she was involved in. So, when I started at UD, I brought that interest with me, but generally didn’t know what I was getting into when I picked my major in environmental engineering,” Fede said. “A lot of people have a perception of what this profession is, but I encourage them to dig in and find out what environmental engineering really means to them. There are so many avenues you can take in this field—it’s not well defined, so you can define it for yourself. Follow your passion and work hard, and you’ll find success.”