We were born to an Armenian family and raised in Tehran, Iran. As teenagers, we immigrated to the United States with our parents in 2004. We clearly recall our first day of school in California, carrying a dictionary to our math class. We remember completing all of the problems at the end of the chapters since, oddly enough, we did not understand the meaning of “odd numbers only.” We received praise for going above and beyond the required assignment, yet, little did anyone know that we struggled to comprehend simple directions given in English.

As teenagers, we thought learning English was the most difficult thing in the world, until we attended college and took thermodynamics. As first-generation college students, this was the beginning of our journey into the mysterious world of mechanical engineering. For quite a while, the word “diversity” was ambiguous to both of us until we joined the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Upon serving as officers of SWE, we became involved in the community and helped inspire younger female students to truly enjoy their physics and math classes.

Before graduating from college, I (Meline) completed an internship at a waste-to-energy power plant while pursuing my master’s degree specializing in thermo-fluids. Simultaneously, I (Arsine) had the opportunity to move to the state of Washington for the summer and join the team working on the Hanford Nuclear Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.

From left: Arsine and Meline Baghdasarian by the Columbia River in Richland, Washington. Protecting the river and the surrounding community is one of the goals of their current project with ArchTam at the Hanford Site.

After receiving our degrees from California State University, Los Angeles, we both relocated to Richland, Washington, as cognizant system engineers at ArchTam to work on the construction of the world’s largest nuclear waste treatment plant. This was the turning point in our professional careers.

A total of 56 million gallons of nuclear waste is stored underground at the Hanford Site — the remains of the plutonium production from World War II and the Cold War era. Many of these tanks have leaked, threatening the Columbia River and the surrounding community. The project’s ongoing efforts are to stabilize the waste by building and commissioning a nuclear waste immobilization facility.

We started our careers with the Plant Engineering department, working on mechanical handing systems to justify that high radiation and contamination areas can be maintained remotely in the future. Being part of ArchTam has given us the opportunity to collaborate with a talented team to solve one of the most critical environmental efforts of all time. Upon graduating from college, we were both determined to pursue a career with a valuable purpose, work with a wonderful team, and learn how to cook while living on our own! ArchTam has granted us the opportunity to achieve all three of these goals.

An image of the Hanford Nuclear Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant with the tank farms shown at top left. (Photo courtesy of Vit Plant)

We have now realized that challenges are opportunities not to be avoided but to be embraced. Embracing these challenges leads to discovery — discovery of new people, discovery of information, and discovery of ourselves. Through all these years, we’ve written valuable chapters in our lives, and this is just the beginning of a new one.

Meline Baghdasarian is a cognizant system engineer at the Hanford Nuclear Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant in Washington, United States. She also has a journal publication in Physics of Fluids on numerical modeling of thermally stratified spin up flows and is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma engineering honor societies. One of Meline’s greatest enjoyments is exploring the tri-cities through her 30-mile bike-rides near the Columbia River.
LinkedIn: Meline Baghdasarian

Arsine Baghdasarian is a cognizant system engineer at the Hanford Nuclear Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and is the lead author of an American Society of Mechanical Engineers conference paper on experimental research of energy efficiency in buildings. Arsine is a lifetime member of Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma engineering honor societies. Aside from her role as an engineer, she enjoys painting, swimming, and hiking the Badger Mountain.
LinkedIn: Arsine Baghdasarian

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Now, here I am, a project specialist on ArchTam’s socioeconomic team in Brazil, where I have reached above and beyond my undergraduate expectations. My job involves traveling, visiting pristine landscapes and experiencing the incredible traditional cultures of Brazil. While working at ArchTam, I have visited five states, approximately 50 municipalities and more than 150 coastal communities.

My role on the socioeconomic team involves contributing design and planning work, as well as conducting research about fishery activities. This research is extremely important for the licensing and permitting process of the offshore oil-and-gas industry in Brazil. Our methods are mostly qualitative, and are based on the use of questionnaires and participatory tools such as mapping, diagrams and history lines, to name a few.

Davi Rodrigues and his team use participatory mapping to identify fishermen, fisheries and sacred territories.

This has been one of my most-challenging fieldwork experiences to date. Oil-and-gas offshore activities are still very underdeveloped in northern Brazil compared to other regions of the country. Regardless, most of the people in that area are dependent on fishery activities as their main source of income and food. Considering the high sensitivity and vulnerability of nature in northern Brazil, the government demanded a very comprehensive and complex environmental impact assessment. Despite these challenges, it was still a really amazing trip.

Characterizing the activity of artisanal fisheries was difficult because, in northern Brazil, the economic sector is very traditional and informal, and is dispersed among several coastal communities. However, we still were able to successfully complete the project.

A small-scale artisanal fishery boat. Artisanal fishery is responsible for 50 percent of the country’s fish production.

During our team’s research, we surveyed more than 300 people, including fishermen, fish dealers, local leaders and government representatives. We found a great diversity of boats and gear used to fish for more than 100 different species. We learned that the artisanal fishermen often cannot rely on proper infrastructure to support their activities, and as a result, are exposed to many operational risks. We also realized that these individuals love what they do and would not do anything else.

Salt fish (also known as bacalhau) at a local market.

Meeting with the local communities and learning about their livelihoods was a life-changing experience for me. This was not just pragmatic data collection. They invited our team to have meals with them, which was an incredible demonstration of generosity and kindness. We were overwhelmed with great stories and examples of relevant traditional and ecological knowledge. One of my favorite stories was about the legend of Curupira, the guardian of the mangrove. The fishermen believe that when Curupira appears, they get lost inside the mangrove and the only way out is to release the crabs they captured. I learned about myths, religions, music, dancing, local technologies and community-based management of natural resources. We also learned about some of Brazil’s cross-cultural contradictions that lead to tough dilemmas, so I learned a lot more about my own country’s cultural diversity.

A fish trap made with recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles.

What about nature? Well, northern Brazil is breathtaking. I had the opportunity to visit the great Delta do Parnaíba (Parnaíba River Delta). I walked through the whitest field of sand dunes I had ever seen in Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. I navigated through estuaries with the biggest tidal variations in Brazil (with amplitudes of about seven meters). I saw an abundance of natural resources, including oysters, mussels, crabs, shrimp, along with dozens of different fish and bird species. The mangrove trees were 30 meters high, and we could easily stand under their suspended roots.

Due to the large number of fishery assessments I have conducted during my first three years at ArchTam, I have grown professionally in many ways. I am also continuously learning from my colleagues on the socioeconomic team. Moreover, working at ArchTam gives me the opportunity to grow as an individual because I am able to explore my country and better understand and appreciate its nature, culture and people.

Davi Rodrigues is a project specialist on ArchTam’s socioeconomic team in Brazil and has been with the company for three years. His work comprises designing, planning and conducting research to identify the impacts caused by the oil-and-gas industry in the fishery sector. Davi also loves the ocean and believes in the positivity of humanity.
LinkedIn: Davi Rodrigues

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