The women on our service engineering team work all over the world and have diverse backgrounds, but they all have the same advice for girls and young women: “If we can do it, so can you.” Read on to meet them.
Sonia Glace, Cytiva Global Marketing Leader, OptiRun™ Service Solutions
Field service engineering is a thriving sector but is still male dominated across many industries. I believe leaders like me have a duty to encourage women to explore careers in this field. As a leader and an advocate of diversity and inclusion in all forms, I’m proud to support #INWED and our Cytiva female service engineers.
The stories below are phenomenal. I applaud these women’s career journeys, service accomplishments, and the difference they’re making in helping advance science. Let’s congratulate and celebrate them so they can inspire other young women to pursue engineering and join the ranks of service engineering heroes!
Julia Hutsko, Cytiva Field Engineer – USCAN
As I pass my one-year mark as a field engineer with Cytiva, I can’t help but reflect on how rewarding it has been. Ever since taking my first physics course in high school, I was hooked. It felt like solving puzzles — like I could constantly challenge myself, coming up with creative strategies on a regular basis. That’s why I decided to study physics in college, as well.
I was one of only three female physics majors in my graduating class. And no one ever thought that was strange. It seemed typical, at least to my peers, that this was a male-dominated field — an assumption validated by the majority of the students beside me, and in most of the professors who taught me. When I got the opportunity to mentor young women from my alma mater who wanted to pursue careers in STEM, I jumped at it. Especially because it was “typical” to be surrounded by men, I wanted to create an encouraging and empowering space for the women who also understood what it felt like to be one of the few.
Now, I get to enjoy the daily variety of being a field engineer. Every day, I am challenged. Every day, I improve my problem-solving skills. Every day, I foster a positive relationship with both customers and fellow Field Engineers. I love getting to be a Field Engineer, and I hope that more women continue to pursue this rewarding field.
Beatrice Kihlberg, Cytiva Service Engineering Specialist, OptiRun™ Service Solutions – EMEA
As a kid, I was always fascinated by the world of Harry Potter and the magical ability to create and transform simple things into something beautiful. I spent years waiting for my letter from Hogwarts, which of course never arrived. After some time, I decided to take action myself, and that was when I discovered biotechnology and the beauty of engineering. For me, engineering is magic. It’s a way to develop something out of nothing. To solve mysteries and transform simple thoughts into something real. In the end, I believe all engineers are somehow magical. And I sure got my letter, in the form of a diploma from Uppsala University instead of Hogwarts.
Anneli Karlsson, Cytiva Qualification Services Portfolio Leader, OptiRun™ Service Solutions – Global
I think it’s super-important to have female role models. I’m an engineer, manager, and mother — it can all be combined. I chose to study engineering biotechnology because I believe that by combining different sciences, we can drive innovation forward quicker.
Rebecca Mooney, Cytiva Field Service Engineer, OptiRun™ Service Solutions – USCAN
I’m a new field service engineer at Cytiva, working on chromatography instruments. I started my job in March of this year, and I’m extremely excited to begin my career in a hands-on technical field. I was inspired by my mother, who is an engineer in the oil and gas industry (a majorly male-dominated field). I’m impressed every day by her accomplishments. Diversity in engineering and other fields is incredibly important and beneficial to the work we do. I’m happy to work for a company that values women in engineering.
Alessandra Guaitani, Cytiva Field Service Engineer, OptiRun™ Service Solutions – EMEA
I'll share my first repair visit. I was 25 years old, a young woman engineer. Right after I started my job here, I attended the basic training course on ÄKTA™ avant and ÄKTA pure™ chromatography systems.
After two weeks, there was an urgent problem with a customer's ÄKTA pure™ system, and other colleagues were busy. So, my manager asked if I was ready. I answered, “Yes, I’ll try to fix it.” I investigated the error message from the system, but it was a strange problem that wasn't well classified in the service manual. I also discussed it with my colleagues, but the root cause was not clear to any of them, either. So, I went to the customer's site with some ideas but without the solution. I did a lot of troubleshooting and diagnosis on the system. After hours, I understood where the root cause was, and it was not where the customer saw the problem! It took time and energy, but solving the problem was extremely satisfying for me. I still remember the happiness I felt in that moment.
Holli Mayer, Cytiva Bioprocess Field Technical Leader, OptiRun™ Service Solutions – USCAN
I never expected to be an engineer. It was something that I didn’t think was even an option for me. Once I started my career in biotech as a manufacturing technician, I had a chance to see the engineers work on the equipment for commissioning and maintenance. I remember thinking, “Wow, that looks like so much fun. I would love to do that.” I took every opportunity to lend a hand and get a little more experience as an occasional apprentice.
Five years later, I had my chance when our equipment broke down right before a manufacturing run. The field engineer showed up and saved the day, and in passing, I told my coworker, “I wish I could do that.”
His response: “Did you know they’re hiring?”
The rest is history. The team took a chance on me, and I’ve sincerely enjoyed the challenges this job has presented. I love working on “the big equipment” in bioprocess. Being able to tear down and rebuild an ÄKTAprocess™ system is satisfying. Now that it has been a few years and I’ve realized how fulfilling engineering is as a career, I only wish I had started sooner.
Lorie Ambat, Cytiva Field Service Engineer, OptiRun™ Service Solutions – USCAN
I started working here in 1998. I had a Bachelor of Science in business administration, but I was very interested in joining my colleagues in the field as a service engineer. So, I went back to school and took computer technology and engineering courses.
I find supporting customers very exciting and interesting. It’s satisfying to install, validate, repair, and do preventive maintenance on lab and medical equipment that is used for patients.
I work in a field dominated by men. Sometimes it’s difficult to be "one of the guys," getting my hands dirty and carrying heavy loads of equipment and tools. On the other hand, it's very rewarding to know that I can perform the job and play an important role for both the company I work for and the customers I support.
Many, many thanks to the people around me, my managers, and fellow field service engineers who are good mentors, and to the field technical leaders who have supported me over the years. It means a lot.
The bottom line is, I made the right choice.
Erin Darker, Cytiva Canadian Service Leader, OptiRun™ Service Solutions – USCAN
From a young age, I was always fascinated by how things worked. I’d read magazines such as Popular Mechanics and Popular Science, always wanting to take things apart and put them back together again after seeing how they worked. My interest in troubleshooting and problem solving electronics and mechanics led me to seek an education and career path that would be technical and hands-on. I went to school for biomedical engineering and then worked for five years as a biomed (biomedical equipment technician) at a major hospital, where I specialized in neonatal and women’s health equipment. I then took on a field service role with Cytiva. I’ve been with the company for over ten years and was promoted to a service leadership position, managing our service team in Canada.
From when I went to school and started my career to now leading a team, I have watched the industry grow. Women are still a minority in engineering, but I’ve seen this evolving. More women are enrolling in technical and engineering programs; more are working in the field and in development. More women are being promoted to junior and senior leadership roles. I encourage women to continue to challenge themselves; continue to seek the career path you hoped and dreamed for. Continue to take the path you want to take, even when it isn’t always that of the least resistance. My career in field service and with Cytiva has been nothing short of rewarding and challenging. Everyone deserves to enjoy what they do and be passionate about their life’s work, so choose wisely, and don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone.
Shweta Ahire, Cytiva Digital Remote Services Leader, OptiRun™ Service Solutions – Global
My proudest service visit was when I resolved an out-of-the-box problem in which the customer was getting unexpected results on a Biacore™ surface plasmon resonance system, despite showing no issues in hardware and application checks. This was the first time I ran a customer experiment (normally engineers aren’t involved with customer application issues). I worked closely with the customer and the global service engineering team to diagnose the problem, and we traced the fault to an injection unit. I then worked with the application team to optimize the cleaning procedure to avoid future failures. I’m proud that our team managed to resolve the issue when both the hardware and software were visibly okay. And I’m proud to be a Cytiva engineer and to focus on customer needs, dive deep on issues outside the service manuals, and go above and beyond to drive customer success.
My proudest moment working remotely was when I empowered a customer to overcome a barrier to helping patients. When I was away for an internal meeting, a customer’s ÄKTA™ avant chromatography system had an issue with the mixer unit in the middle of an urgent experiment. I remotely guided the customer to replace the mixer unit from their on-site stock of spare parts. The system was back in use in less than an hour! The customer was able to deliver results on time by stepping out of their comfort zone of being a “regular scientist.”
That day, I realized the potential of remote support. With the aid of digital remote tools, we can work with customers to bridge the gap between the lab bench and the patient’s bedside and move a step closer to make this world a healthy place. This incident inspired me to become an integral part of Cytiva’s remote services strategy, and I’m proudly leading a global initiative to build our global online center and drive Cytiva’s digital technology stack to make sure we are the collaborator of choice for our customers.
Every moment of this journey as an engineer is my proudest moment! I’m thankful to all my peers and managers who believed in me, supported me, and gave me an opportunity to become a proud woman engineer, standing tall on this International Women in Engineering Day to represent Cytiva.
