DANCING ENGINEER: ME grad student Catherine Newman credits the Minority Engineering Program, an ME professor and dance as the things that got her through a tough engineering program during less than ideal circumstances.

ME grad student shares her secret on coping in engineering

Catherine Newman’s father, a leader in the Berkeley African American community, became disabled with multiple sclerosis while Newman was in middle school and died when she was in high school. Her father’s disability shattered her childhood and left her family struggling emotionally and economically. Newman had to work her way though school and being the first person in her family to go to College often made her feel alone.

Just before graduation, Newman learned she had won the first annual Serge Granik Memorial Award, established by the Granik family in memory of their son Serge, a system administrator for the Davis Etcheverry Computing Facility. The $750 merit-based award is given to an engineering student who has overcome difficulties or adversity to successfully complete his or her coursework.

While she is thankful to the Granik family for the support and recognition, she claims that she didn’t have it any harder than the next student. “I’ve had my personal struggles, but so has everyone else,” says the 2003 ME graduate.

Newman says she overcame difficulties along the way with help from the Minority Engineering Program and ME professor Alice Agogino, who took Newman under her wing.

“They helped me learn the ropes, handle the bureaucracy at Cal, and deal with being a woman in engineering,” says Newman.

Something else helped Newman cope with the pressures of engineering. She credits her involvement in dance with boosting her confidence, improving her presentation skills and elevating her performance in engineering.

“Dance has been essential to my existence in engineering. It helped me improve as a student and understand what kind of learner I am,” she says.

She claims that dance’s on-the-spot learning has helped her focus on what’s important in the classroom.
“It made me realize that I wasn’t always going to get everything at once,” she says.

Though Newman comes from a family of dancers, she only started dancing in college. Since her freshman year she has devoted two hours daily, five days a week to dance classes.

Newman started her master’s degree at Berkeley in fall ’03 and plans to continue her dance schedule despite the stepped up demands and pressures of grad school. She aspires to design consumer products for a small design firm or her own company.

“I think that everyone should find something outside of engineering to supplement the engineering experience. Being involved in something creative outside of school will boost your creativity as an engineer. I think that the department should encourage engineers to foster their creativity,” she says.

Over the years, Newman has persuaded fellow engineers to take dance classes. While most liked it, they stopped when overwhelmed with schoolwork. But Newman never let work interfere with her dance commitment.

“I can’t explain why, but I stuck with it and I’m glad I did,” she says.

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