In this episode of Diverse, SWE President Rachel Morford sits down with Tracy Propheter, Deputy Chief Engineer for Repair Design at Pratt and Whitney, owned by Raytheon Technologies. This month SWE is celebrating Women’s History Month by highlighting a variety of women – speakers, researchers, and leaders.
Tracy’s passion and creativity in engineering has led to the conception of over 150 patents and winner of over 150 SWE patent awards. She is also a leader in her community by volunteering with her daughter’s Girl Scouts troop and working with the Girl Scouts of Connecticut. Listen to the episode to find out how she became an engineer and how she uses her passion for engineering to inspire others.
Guest: Tracy Propheter
Born in Georgia to two Electrical Engineers and gaining another in Chemistry/Business, the world was wide open to Tracy. She lived up and down the eastern seaboard and across the pond where she joined Girl Scouts for a time. Her child and young adult hoods were marked by a keen interest and talent in Art, Music, Writing, Sewing, Wood working, and History. From winning awards for her drawings at the Roswell Ga Art fair, to being a runner up in a Coca-Cola essay contest, to Art student of the year, and the first Girl to be an industrial arts student of the month. She loved creating art in every form imaginable.
So, her Parents were all blown away when she came home and said, “I want to be a Mechanical Engineer!” In her mind almost everything we see, touch, and use in our day to day lives at one point or another was imagined, created, and or touched by an engineer. Engineering is not the antithesis of creativity it is creativity in its the highest form! Her mother told her she could be anything she wanted to be, and she so she is. Her perspective of creativity and diversity in engineering has led to the conception of over 150 patents and has earned her a Deputy Design Engineering position at Pratt and Whitney. She continues to pay it forward as she teaches and learns from fellow engineers and volunteers for Girl Scouts of Connecticut and her daughters’ troop.
Host: Rachel Morford
Rachel Morford is a principal director at The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, where she manages a team responsible for the integration of multiple space and ground programs. In previous roles, Morford led the Aerospace team supporting the production, launch, and on-orbit testing of three high-value communication satellites; provided technical leadership and supported strategic development of international agreements between the U.S. Air Force and other nations; and spent several years as a systems engineer working on national security launches. Morford has led the Aerospace Women’s Committee, served on the Aerospace Diversity Action Committee, and is an enthusiastic member of multiple Aerospace employee resource groups. She has been recognized with the Aerospace Woman of the Year award and the Aerospace Commitment to Our People Diversity and Inclusion award.
A senior life member of SWE, Morford joined the Society as a student at the University of Southern California. She has held several leadership roles in SWE at all levels, including chair of the collegiate leadership coaching committee, region governor, Los Angeles Section president, and director of advocacy. Morford is a recipient of the SWE Distinguished New Engineer and the We Local ELiTE awards.
Morford holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California and a certificate in technical management from the University of California, Los Angeles. An active alumna, Morford serves on the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors and the Viterbi Emerging Leaders Board. She enjoys spending time with her husband, Matthew, and their daughter Emily.
