Dharma Prime and Halak Mehta were called to science and engineering from the beginning.

Prime, senior controls engineer for Concept Systems, was drawn to mathematics, troubleshooting and problem-solving as early as middle school. Meanwhile, Halak Mehta, reliability engineer for Sapporo-Stone Brewing, had a love for chemistry and a strong example in her electronics engineer parents, but when she realized sensory scientists could spend the day sampling ice cream, she realized food science could be in her future.

"With food, you can really impact people's lives directly — a process or a product that you contribute to can directly go on people's plates," Mehta says. "But it's also engineering, risk assessment and maintenance plans. It's this amalgamation of engineering, science and fun."

Prime and Mehta are among the growing league of women choosing to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In celebration of this growth, the UK-based Women’s Engineering Society is marking the 13th International Women in Engineering Day on June 23.

To help FOOD ENGINEERING honor the work of talented women engineers across the food industry, Prime and Mehta recently discussed their educational backgrounds, pivotal projects in their careers and advice for new and future professionals.

Workforce Data

Women have increasingly pursued careers in STEM fields over the last half century, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau, but the growth has been slower in the engineering category — particularly compared to other disciplines.

As of 2024, women represent 27% of the STEM workforce, but only 16% of engineering roles are occupied by women. That’s after a steady climb from 3% in 1970.

Comparatively, 60% of social scientists and nearly half (46%) of life and physical scientists are women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey (ACS). Women occupy 44% of roles in mathematics occupations and 25% in computer occupations.

Gender distributions also vary across engineering subcategories, as 2024 ACS estimates show:

An uneven distribution also exists in management roles in the architecture and engineering sector. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates women hold 14% of leadership positions in these categories.

These differences don’t just appear in the field — they often begin in college programs. Prime, who studied mechanical engineering and computer science at Oregon State University, says her computer science classes were fairly even, but in her mechanical engineering courses, the ratio of men to women was about 10 to 1.

"I just learned to form really good communities with the women who I did meet in those classes," Prime says. "A lot of them I'm still friends with today, and it's just really nice to have someone that you can talk to about your experiences. I think that made getting through the classes a lot easier."

Mehta studied chemical engineering at B.M.S. College of Engineering in Bangalore, India and earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in food science from Purdue University. She says her undergraduate cohort was about 25% women, which was considered high.

"Chemical engineering remains a male-dominated field," Mehta says. "I do think that the ratio has improved in recent years. There’s definitely some preconceived notions about women in engineering, and particularly in fields like mechanical and chemical engineering. I've had to become comfortable with being the only woman in the room, and I think that that's an experience that a lot of women in this industry can relate to."

Industry Experience

Prime first discovered her love of controls engineering while working on Oregon State’s Formula Racing team. Upon graduation, she took a job at a beverage OEM, but she realized it wasn’t quite right.

"I was just doing mechanical work, and I liked it, but there was something missing," she says. "I always wanted to know, ‘I'm building all of these things, but how do I control them? How do I take the next step?’"

Since joining Concept Systems in 2023, Prime has helped dairy and potato processors in the Pacific Northwest retrofit and update their systems. She served as lead controls integrator on a greenfield potato processing plant in Washington, where she learned about all processes, from raw product processing through packaging.

"It was really fascinating to see them almost design the equipment as we went," Prime says about the project. "They had all of the mechanical designs laid out, and they had built similar factories before, but anytime you put two things together, they don't quite line up. Figuring out that kind of troubleshooting on the fly, and they're adding a new IO as we're realizing this process is a little more complicated than we thought, is always a really fun challenge to tackle."

While always interested in food, Mehta explored several areas of chemical engineering just to be certain. Petroleum, fertilizers, fragrance — she didn’t like any of it. However, she found her niche while interning at a dairy manufacturer in India.

"I spent a large portion of my internship in the wastewater plant, and we were working on optimizing anaerobic digestion," Mehta says. "Some government regulations had recently changed, and they were trying to adapt to that change. I smelled like wastewater for nearly three months and worked in 110 degrees heat, but I felt like it was the most wonderful time, so I thought I have enough data to conclude that I like food science."

Mehta began her post-graduate studies in food science at Purdue University, where, in addition to conducting research and industry training, she helped commission and install an extrusion line at the Food Entrepreneurship and Manufacturing Institute’s pilot facility.

"I had the opportunity to work on it from day one, from taking the plastic off of the new equipment, all the way to producing consumption-ready samples," she says. "It was definitely a huge lift, but there were so many aspects that I learned there that shaped me into who I am now."

Now, at Sapporo-Stone Brewing, Mehta aims to limit downtime on the company’s bottle, can and keg lines by building a reliability-centered maintenance approach.

Looking Ahead

Both Prime and Mehta emphasized the importance of mentorship — not only to improve their own skills but to support those who follow in their footsteps.

Mehta says the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Institute of Food Technologists and Phi Tau Sigma, an international honor society for food science and technology, have offered meaningful opportunities for formal mentorship. However, the backing of Dharmendra Mishra, professor and director of Purdue’s FEMI, helped her to overcome any doubts in her capabilities and to "think like a leader."

"He always encouraged me," she says. "He always gave me some big decisions, threw me sometimes into the deep end of the pool but believed that I could swim. It helped me believe that I am entrusted with all of this decision-making, (and) I can do this."

While in college, Prime participated in the MECOP internship program, and since joining Concept Systems, she has mentored two interns through the same initiative.

"That's a really fun experience to take someone who's in the first six months to year of their career," Prime says, "and help them figure out ‘what is important for me to learn right now? How can I develop my skills and that problem-solving mindset as an engineer?’"

That also involves developing and learning to trust their "engineering gut," Prime adds.

"Even a new engineer can notice when something's wrong and when something feels off," she says. "Even if you don't have the knowledge, the background or the expertise to articulate it, I think (it’s) being able to say, ‘hey, I think we should have someone else take a look at this. I think something's going on here.’ I always try to encourage our interns when they speak up."

Mehta also recommends burgeoning engineers to have a "growth mindset" while being adaptable, teachable and willing to deal with the discomfort of new experiences.

"Growth could look like different things at different stages in your career," she says. "Sometimes it's a graduate program. Sometimes it may be upskilling with a certification. Sometimes maybe it's picking up an AI tool or even picking up a new hobby. But just believing that you can learn quickly and add value to something completely new, I think that's really important."

While women pursue engineering — and build a community for each other — Mehta and Prime hope the gender gap in engineering and manufacturing continues to close.

"I do think that we are on a good trajectory," Mehta says. "We can definitely expect to see some improvements, but we need to do more. I would like to not see headlines anymore that say, ‘first woman to do XYZ in organization’s ABC-years-long history.’ No more glass ceilings."