Supporting UK customers and communities during the pandemic

Anne McIlveen started as a Boeing intern at the UK’s largest air base, Royal Air Force Brize Norton. Now she’s a C-17 military transport aircraft service engineer assisting customers with COVID-19 relief activities on C-17s, including medical evacuations and delivering food and medical supplies. For McIlveen, engineering has never been more important.

“Engineering is everywhere,” she said. “I think it could be argued that this is one of the most important times in history to be inventing, optimizing and sustaining systems and products. We need engineers for everything, from maintaining food supply chains and transport systems to developing new medicines and computer algorithms to model the spread of disease. Sometimes simply doing our day-to-day jobs with passion and focus helps to shape the world.”

McIlveen is one of the engineers celebrated today for shaping the world as part of International Women in Engineering Day, a day in which the engineering community virtually recognizes the expertise and skills of women engineers and their significant impact in changing the world for the better.

Established by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) in the UK seven years ago, International Women in Engineering Day has grown into an international movement that unites industry and academia in building awareness, forming global connections and raising aspirations for women worldwide.

This year’s theme — Shaping the World — shows how women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields shape society and help make the planet a better, safer, more innovative and exciting place to be. Boeing recognizes that the future of the company is rooted in harnessing the talents of the entire workforce and empowering women to take center stage.

As a field service engineer for Boeing’s defense services business in the UK, McIlveen provides 24/7 support for all of Boeing’s customers who operate the C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft.

McIlveen’s passion for engineering started when she completed an internship at an aerospace company in Northern Ireland as a student, before securing an internship at Boeing during college. Almost five years later, after graduating with a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Aerospace Engineering, McIlveen continues to make her mark as a respected member of the team at Royal Air Force Brize Norton. She encourages other early career employees to follow the advice she received at age 17: “Pick a thing or subject you love. If you love something, it’s much easier to spend time getting good at it.”