Commitment and support

As a child, Sandra Begay-Campbell attended Church Rock Chapter meetings and listened to community members talk about their concerns. Today, at 47, she does the same but now she looks for solutions.

"I grew up in a chapter house," Begay-Campbell said. "I was there for all of the chapter meetings every week. It brought me an understanding of how to speak desires through the chapter and move them to the Navajo Nation Council."

As a project engineer at Sandia National Labs, Begay-Campbell provides technical assistance to tribes who are interested in renewable energy projects.

One of her projects on the Navajo Nation is helping Tóhajiilee Chapter to determine what size solar power farm would best serve the community's needs.

"We're going to use what we need and with the excess, we're going to sell it," Begay-Campbell said.

She also is working with officials from the Navajo Nation to develop a comprehensive energy plan.

Getting to this place in her life took a lot of time and dedication to her education.

She attended Rehoboth Christian School for 12 years and then enrolled in a college in Grand Rapids, Mich., for one semester.

"It was major culture shock," she said. "I needed to come home and finish my education."

Begay-Campbell knew she wanted to be an engineer and realized she also needed the support of her family and "being around Native people."

"I wasn't college-ready for engineering," she recalled. "I had to take more math and science classes. I learned about failure."

Begay-Campbell returned to Gallup and attended classes at the University of New Mexico-Gallup.

"It was the ideal school for me," she said. "The classes were small and I could live at home and most of my high school teachers were teaching the classes."

It really helped to know her instructors' teaching styles and how they graded.

"I ended up with a 4.0," said Begay-Campbell, who is Naaneesht'ézhi táchii'nii (Charcoal Streaked Division of the Red Running Into Water Clan), born for Tódích'íi'nii (Bitter Water Clan).

When she finished her associates degree in pre-engineering at the branch college, she transferred to the main campus in Albuquerque to continue her studies. Now firmly grounded in math and science, she was able to graduate with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1987.

In 1988, Begay-Campbell got a job at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, moving on to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1990.

In 1999, she was accepted at Stanford University with a full fellowship from the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science, which meant most of her costs were covered.

Begay-Campbell earned her master's degree in structural engineering from Stanford in 1991.

Since then, she has been a principal member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories.

She also served for six years on the UNM Board of Regents.

"I kept tabs on the branch campuses," Begay-Campbell said. "They are so important to the success of many students."

She credits her parents, Cecilia Damon Begay and former Navajo Nation Council delegate, Vice Chairman and Council Speaker Edward T. Begay, with providing the commitment and support that paved the way to her success.

"Both my mom and dad expected me and my sister to go to college," she said. "It was not ever a question, we just knew we were going to college."

Among her mentors she counts the late Mary Ross, the first Native woman engineer and a rocket scientist at Lockheed Martin Corp., and Henrietta Mann, now president of Cheyenne Arapaho Tribal College in Weatherford, Okla.

"They taught me to listen to what people need and then solve problems - not all of them but what you can," Begay-Campbell said. "Think about what's possible and communicate that back."

She advises students to take opportunities like the American Indian Science and Engineering Society as a way to meet people and learn to be comfortable in professional social situations.

"I'm naturally shy," she said. "I had to be proactive in interacting and talking with people."

Away from work, Begay-Campbell unwinds by watching television and movies, especially sci-fi. A particular favorite is "Anasazi," a 1995 episode of "The X-Files" in which "Navajos actually saved the planet," she said.

Meanwhile, Begay-Campbell hopes to continue being a role model for her family and other Native Americans.

"I want them to succeed," she said.

Her efforts are infectious - already three of her cousin's daughters have gone into engineering: one is a civil engineer, one an electronic engineer, and the third is a mechanical engineer.

"I never pressured them and they were very observant of my career," she said.

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