We recently caught up with Josephine Carstensen, who earned both her MSE and PhD in civil and systems engineering. Read her career update and advice for students below.
What is your current position?
I’m the Gilbert W. Winslow Career Development Associate Professor in Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
What attracted you to this career path?
I love doing research! I love the creativity and attention to detail it requires. I love how my group gets to define the problems we work on and how we have the opportunity to shape the future of our profession. I had a small taste of what life as a researcher was like during my Master’s, so I started my PhD at Hopkins knowing that this was the path I hoped to follow. My years as a PhD student only reinforced my research passion. When I left Hopkins, I wasn’t sure I would like teaching, but I have come to enjoy that, too. There is really not much that can compete with seeing students being excited and mastering material at the end of a semester and knowing that you played a part in making that happen.
What attributes, skills, or knowledge are needed to be successful in your field?
Naturally, you need to know the theory you work with (and its limits), but it is also extremely important that you can communicate effectively. That is both important for both writing and presenting. It pays off to spend time preparing visuals and becoming a good storyteller.
What role has your education played in your success?
I have learned so much from changing educational environments. I studied civil engineering for a BSc and MSc at Technical University of Denmark, where I am from. During that time, I had the opportunity to study abroad in the UK twice. I saw how things could be taught or researched differently, in good and bad ways, and it inspired me to think out of the box. Still, it came as a surprise when one of my advisors suggested that I should pursue a PhD in the US because I hadn’t imagined that I would be able to compete for admission with students outside Europe. In Jamie Guest’s group at Hopkins, I gained confidence in my theoretical background and my abilities. My time as a PhD student is by far the most important five years of my education as I learnt so much that I now use daily in my work.
Speaking of working with Professor Guest, we would love to hear about any noteworthy or pivotal experiences you had at the Whiting School.
I feel SO fortunate to have worked with and learned from Jamie Guest. I really want to be the kind of advisor to my students that he was (and still is) to me. He knows his stuff but also allowed me to try things out and find my way of approaching it. I know now just how hard it is not to micromanage your students and to trust that they might find a way that is better than yours. I strive to be as enthusiastic and passionate as he is.
During my PhD, my husband and I welcomed our daughter. Both Professor Guest and the Department made that easy, even though I was the first female student to have a child during my degree. Ben Schafer was chair at the time, and he and all the faculty made sure that I had nothing to worry about. When I was starting to figure out how to navigate family life and academia, I used the role models that I saw in Professors Guest, Schafer, and Graham-Brady. Those role models have meant a lot to me in my personal life. Professor Gramham-Brady also gave me the best advice before my first job interview – make sure you have snacks in your bag and ask for toilet breaks.
What advice would you offer students preparing for a career in academia?
Put your name in the hat. When I started undergrad, I could not have dreamt up the career path that led me to the job I have today. I have had many pivotal points in my career when I thought that I would not get the offer while putting together the application. Although that has been true at times, I have certainly also been proven wrong. I’m glad I put my name in the hat, even when I thought there would be others out there who had better chances than me.