IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016 - 47

emigrated to Canada when Kochmanová
was seven. When it became hard to find
work in Canada as a civil engineer, Ricalde moved back to Peru, but this time the
school-aged Kochmanová stayed behind
with her father. Today, Ricalde resides in
New Jersey, where she is a senior civil
engineer for Applied Research Associates, Inc.
Along the way, Ricalde spent time in
Mississippi when she headed to the University of Mississippi for a master's degree. After graduation, the school offered
her the opportunity to continue with her
Ph.D. degree work. Ricalde completed
her course work but commitments and
responsibilities made it impossible for her
to complete her Ph.D.
This, Ricalde says, is why, years later,
she had such strong opinions about Kochmanová completing her own program.
Kochmanová's father had not received
his Ph.D. degree either, and this set him
squarely on Ricalde's side. Together they
pushed their daughter. When Kochmanová kept deciding against attending grad
school, Ricalde asked old colleagues to
help remind her daughter of the importance of an advanced degree. Kochmanová wasn't interested.
This is what led to Japan-the trick
that backfired on Kochmanová. She
wanted to get her parents to lay off of
her, so she applied for a very competitive
scholarship to a program in Japan. "Because the chances were so low," Kochmanová recalls, laughing. "I'd apply and
be rejected." This would prove she wasn't
smart enough, and everyone would move
on. But then she was accepted to the program and she went. It was very hard, even
uncomfortable and shocking, but it was
also pivotal to her career.
It wasn't the actual Ph.D. degree that
ended up impacting Kochmanová; it was
the culture. "What I studied isn't all that
practical," Kochmanová says. "It doesn't
readily apply to what I do now, but it was
the experience of going over to another
country and adapting to new cultures-
not only Japanese, but also those of other

Ricalde visits her daughter in
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

foreign students. I came back a completely different person, able to handle stressful situations."
In Japan, tradition is very important.
Hierarchical customs date back centuries. Take the serving of food and beer at
functions and parties, where it is considered rude to serve yourself. The person
with the lower station serves the higher.
In this way, a bachelor's degree student
serves a master's student, who serves a
Ph.D. student, who serves a professor.
This, Kochmanová could have lived with,
but there was one problem. If you are female, it doesn't matter how educated you
are-even if you are a Ph.D. student, you
are at the bottom of the heap. She refused
to ashere to the hierarchy. She may have
caused a stir, but she stood her ground.
"I gained respect," Kochmanová says
of how things eventually turned out. "I
ended up being the top Ph.D. student.
They were serving me."
There is one anecdote that both mother and daughter bring up from this time.
It involves a trip Kochmanová took to attend a conference in Philadelphia with one
of her Japanese professors. Their relationship was tense. Gender equity issues didn't
stop at serving food. She was angry that
he assumed she didn't know how to take
a basic water content. He couldn't figure
her out, and yet here they were staying
at Kochmanová's house. During the stay,
Kochmanová became very ill, and spent
much of the trip confined to her room,
leaving her mother to entertain.

December 2016

When they returned to Japan, the professor told her that after meeting her mother, he understood Kochmanová much better. From then on, Kochmanová received a
whole different level of respect from him.
"I don't know what she said to him,
but it worked," Kochmanová says. "She's
a really, really great role model."
Kochmanová gets it now, too-why
her parents wouldn't let up on the degree.
"They saw the advantages," Kochmanová
says about her parents. "If I hadn't done it
then, I wouldn't have done it. Parents can
be pushy, but they are usually right."
That's music to a mother's ears. Still,
in the spirit of friendly family competition,
Kochmanová finished her dissertation before Ricalde, which, she says, means her
mother owes her a trip to Nepal.

A Fraction of Her Mother
Kochmanová doesn't think much about
being a woman working in a male-dominated industry. Regarding the whole
gender conversation, Kochmanová says
she has "never fully seen the struggles
everyone is talking about." Part of this is
an excellent work environment at Golder
Associates-she is surrounded by influential women. She can rattle off a long
list of the strong science, technology,
engineering, and math women around
her-aunts, professors, mentors, and
managers. And a large part of this is the
way she was raised.
"My mom is super stubborn," Kochmanová says. But then she pauses and
changes her choice of words. "Not stubborn-driven. I am a fraction of my mother. She doesn't let things get in her way."
The more Kochmanová gets into her
career, the more she admires her mother
for that trait. When Kochmanová thinks
back to El Estrecho, she is astounded at
what they were able to accomplish. "They
built an airport on that clay," Kochmanová says. "Knowing what I know now,
that's pretty amazing."
-Katianne Williams is a freelance
writer specializing in the technology field.

IEEE womEn In EngInEErIng magazInE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2016