  | Megan Hayes is one of only seven 2003 graduates nationwide to be chosen for the GAF Engineering Leadership Program. | |||||
On the Fast TrackBy Jill Connors Late last summer, on a Friday afternoon when most office workers were eyeing their watches and making mental lists of things to pick up for the beach or cookout, Megan Hayes ’03, a chemical engineering graduate, had nothing but work on her mind as she surveyed the manufacturing line at the Mt. Vernon, Ind., facility of GAF Materials Corporation. A building boom had prompted GAF, the nation’s leading maker of residential and commercial roofing products, to put its facility on a 24/7 schedule of round-the-clock shifts. On this particular day, Hayes had attended an early-morning meeting, fielded phone calls, and kept her remarkably sharp mind ready for whatever challenges might come her way. With the title of quality engineering specialist, Hayes is charged with making process improvements in production at the Mt. Vernon facility. She is also receiving extra training in methods of troubleshooting and statistical analysis, all part of what she calls “getting a good base of knowledge.” Hayes is on a fast track, one of only seven 2003 graduates nationwide (out of 1,200 applicants) to be chosen for the GAF Engineering Leadership Program. With single-minded focus, Hayes sought out the program in the fall of her senior year. “I interned with a company that makes medical devices the summer before my senior year,” says Hayes, “and a friend was in a finance leadership program there, but the company didn’t have an engineering leadership program. So I did some research.” The GAF program requires frequent moves—GAF has 26 manufacturing facilities around the country and is headquartered in Wayne, N.J.—but Hayes is focused on her goal: a management job in operations. Living in different places and making the most of opportunities come naturally to Hayes, who was born in Wisconsin and spent her early years there, lived for a time in Bermuda while her mother worked for the Bermuda Biological Station, went to high school in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., and attended the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., for one year before changing her major from civil to chemical engineering and transferring to URI. In her senior year, Hayes took advantage of a new opportunity: She and 30 other female undergraduates were the first participants in the Women in Science and Technology (WIST) residence program, living in a renovated former fraternity house on campus. The building at 22 Upper College Road is a stately yellow house with a columned front entry that is also the headquarters of the URI Women’s Center. Says Hayes of the WIST experience: “It was great living together, being a support group for each other.” And she’s already got some ideas for starting an alumni program that will bring female graduates back to the WIST house to share their experiences. There is only one thing stopping her: “I just don’t have a lot of vacation time right now,” says Hayes with a laugh.Jill Connors is a freelance writer in Middletown, R.I. |
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