Jane Yates, a junior in environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, may aspire to one day earn a Ph.D. in her field — but she credits a lesson from kindergarten as the driving force behind her determination. 
 
“Something most people learn from a young age is how we should strive to leave the world a better place than we found it,” says Yates, of Knob Noster, Missouri. “That has always stuck with me.” 
 
Up to her junior year of high school, Yates planned to become a medical doctor and make a difference through health care. Then, she took an Advanced Placement environmental science course, which changed everything. 
 

“This class was really eye-opening for me,” she says. “I learned about so many issues related to the environment, and it inspired me to do my part and find solutions.” 
 
This new passion led to Yates starting a new composting program for food waste at her high school. It also led to her attending a Missouri S&T summer camp for high schoolers at the Ozark Research Field Station that taught science through art, which she says reinforced her decision to become a student at S&T and work to improve the environment.   

In 2022, Yates graduated from Knob Noster High School and officially became an environmental engineering student at S&T. Fast-forward to today, and she is now in her third year at the university and has made her mark in multiple student organizations and locations far beyond S&T’s Rolla, Missouri, campus. 
 
Last summer, she was in eastern Tennessee for a research internship to support the health of many of the state’s waterways. Over her most recent winter break, she traveled to Kenya with S&T’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders to conduct an assessment for a future water system for a school.  
 
As the president of S&T’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, she regularly visits Rolla Middle School and conducts science and engineering programming for the students, as well as other outreach events.  

She participates on S&T’s Concrete Canoe Design Team, and she leads tours and provides prospective students with information about S&T as one of the university’s student ambassadors. 
 
In almost everything she does, she considers how her actions can affect issues like sustainability, environmental education and leaving the world better than she found it. She says this fits perfectly with this year’s National Engineers Week theme of “Design Your Future.” 
 
“Environmental engineers can truly change lives with the work they do,” she says. “Whether it’s water treatment, water quality, air quality, climate change, bioremediation, public health or one of countless other areas, the work we do really matters.” 
 
For more information about Missouri S&T’s environmental engineering programs, visit care.mst.edu. 

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit  www.mst.edu.