Women @ Energy: Julieta Giraldez

Julieta Giraldez has worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, since June 2011 and is now a senior research engineer in the Power Systems Engineering Center. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain) in Technical Mining Engineering, a master’s in electrical engineering from Colorado School of Mines, and is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in systems engineering at Colorado State University.

Since I was little, I was lucky to grow up in a family and school environment where being good at math was cool. In high school, I got really interested in astrophysics and the more philosophical, “Where does the universe come from?” questions and that led me to want to study physics. However, I found physics too theoretical and switched to engineering, which is a great field to apply science to society.

I really enjoy my work, which not everyone is lucky enough to be able to say! When I was introduced in college to the big system that delivers power to our houses called the power grid, it blew my mind. I enjoy working to make the power grid cleaner and more sustainable. I enjoy working with other nerdy scientists and engineers at NREL, but the interaction I have with the real world and industry (utility companies, regulators, and technology providers) to work on more futuristic big picture questions –while helping industry with their today problems – is something that stands out to me about my work.

I think role models are a very important feature that we should work on. If a young girl never meets a woman in STEM, it could influence her confidence in thinking or even considering that it is possible she could become an engineer one day. I also think that, to enable more role models, there still needs to be a push for improved gender equality with longer maternity AND actual paternity leave.  

Talk and reach out to people! The silliest question is the question not asked. I find that when I reach out to both men and women in my field to talk about more personal and career-related questions, people are happy to share their experience and most of them go beyond that and provide meaningful help and support. I would say creating yourself a STEM family that can support you professionally is highly recommended.

I love to cook, catch up with friends, dance, listen to music, sing, read, do yoga and go hiking!

Learn more about our programs & resources for women and girls in STEM at /women