Aspect is excited to welcome Jessica Smith, LG to our team. Jessica is a Senior Geologist supporting Aspect’s Environmental group out of our Seattle office. She is a proven environmental project manager with experience leading complex, high-profile, multi-disciplined projects for both private and public sector clients including the Amazon Headquarters Multi-City Block Redevelopment and the Washington State Convention Center Addition. Jessica has developed an expertise in due diligence, site assessment, and remediation of upland urban brownfield redevelopment sites. Here are five questions we asked to get to know her better:
1. Where are you from? If you’re not from the Pacific Northwest, what brought you here? I was born in Littleton, Colorado and moved to the Pacific Northwest when I was 8. I grew up in Bellingham but also lived near Salt Lake City for a few years in junior high and high school. After college my husband and I moved to the Redmond area and have been here ever since. I have lived in the PNW for the majority of my life and consider it home!
2. What inspired you to pursue geology? What made you curious about it? I started college as an English major with an emphasis on technical and creative writing. Spring quarter of my sophomore year I took a Geology 101 course for a general science credit and really enjoyed it. My professor talked me into taking a Geology field course that summer in California, which I absolutely loved. When I got back from the trip I immediately changed my major, signed up for all the math and science I hadn’t taken, enrolled in summer school to not fall behind and graduated (on time!) with a Geology degree!
3. What do you like best about your area of expertise? What excites you and keeps you motivated? I enjoy working on challenging, fast paced and team-focused projects. I love the satisfaction that comes from working with my colleagues, clients, contractors, regulators and other consultants to solve problems and reach our end goals. I am also a visual person and get satisfaction from presenting technical data in a graphic way that is easy to understand.
4. What do you like to do when you aren’t working? When I’m not working I’m usually hanging out with my husband, our two kids, Caden (7) and Clara (4) and our black lab, Porter (9). We love to travel, hike, camp, and on sunny PNW days you can almost always find us boating on Lake Sammamish.
5. Where in the world would you like to travel next? I love to travel and, since my husband is a pilot, get to do it quite a bit! I’m looking forward to someday exploring Italy and Greece, relaxing on the beaches in Thailand and heading back to Ireland and Scotland!