We recently sat down with Terracon’s Alicia Winterstein and got to know more about her career, her life, and the benefits of her membership in the Women of Asphalt. We enjoyed getting to know more about her and want to thank her for time.
You are from Chicago! What brought you to Utah?
My parents moved out here for work when I was 14. I’ve been here more than half my life, so I consider myself a Utah native. Chicago is too cold and bitter in the winter because of the winds. It is to-the-bone cold, and I don’t miss that at all.
What is your academic background?
I have high school and some general college courses here and there, but no degree. However, I hope to go back to school at some point and get a degree in safety.
When I started at Terracon, I had never worked in a materials lab, with asphalt or in construction. Now I am the Office Safety Coordinator and Radiation Safety Officer, too. It’s been great, and I’ve learned a lot. Work here is all about the certifications you have. I have been able to get some laboratory certifications the last couple of years:
- Embankment
- Aggregate
- Lab 1 (which covers certifications the first two don’t)
- Asphalt
How did you become a Terracon lab tech?
Previously, I had worked in the service industry and as a teaching assistant. However, I had never done anything like this before. A friend who had worked at Terracon for several years knew I liked looking at pretty rocks on hikes and told me about the lab job opportunity. I applied, and they hired me even though I had no experience. It has been fun to learn everything.
Would you please tell us a little about your job?
I work in the Materials Testing lab at Terracon. We do compaction soil tests, check plastic limits, test concrete and brake cylinders. We also test a lot of asphalt, do extraction testing, calculate theoretical densities, and ensure the mix design matches the test.
In addition to my lab responsibilities, I am the Office Safety Coordinator and Radiation Safety Officer. As Terracon’s Office Safety Coordinator, I help enforce safety policies, and I make sure people have adequate stocks of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and are wearing it. At a minimum, PPE includes safety glasses, work-appropriate gloves and hard hats.
As the Radiation Safety Officer, I ensure all the paperwork is in order and in compliance with DOT regulations for our nuclear gauges, which have a nuclear source and are used for conducting density and moisture tests in asphalt and soils.
Work is a lot of fun. We run some tests every day, but sometimes we get interesting tests we don’t get to run that often.
How has the pandemic affected your work?
Terracon is a national company, and we have Corporate policies to keep employees safe. We have a Corporatewide COVID response team and then another team in the office on the local level to stay safe despite the increased business. Everyone is taking precautions. When we work in the same building, we take care of each other and are safe for each other. For us, everyone in the lab is spread out. Each station in the lab has 6 feet of distance between workstations. We sanitize them and sanitize tools so other people can use them. Also, we wear running masks while running samples. The asphalt samples are 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is super hot.
Terracon has grown in Utah because there was a lot of time to look for projects after the pandemic shutdown started. We have gotten busier and busier and busier since the pandemic started. Work should slow down in December for the construction industry, but it didn’t slow down this year or last year. The company found more work, and the regular work did not disappear. We have more people working and more tests being run.
Terracon has grown in Utah because there was a lot of time to look for projects after the pandemic shutdown started. We have gotten busier and busier and busier since the pandemic started.
What is Terracon’s link to UAPA?
Terracon has been involved with UAPA for many years because of its relevance to our work every day and the educational and networking opportunities UAPA provides. Members go to events such as golf tournaments and conferences to make connections and meet clients. Attending gets us more asphalt jobs.
How did you get involved with Women of Asphalt?
Darlene Batatian, our Client Development Manager, has many connections and told me about Women of Asphalt. She was really excited about it, and our Materials Manager, Sy Winkelman, was very supportive. I’ve been a member since January 2021. She also suggested that I get involved in another association, Women in Safety, in 2020. I went to a couple of their meetings before the pandemic shutdown. I’ve been able to get the newsletters and things from Women of Asphalt, but I haven’t gone to many events because of COVID-19. I’m excited to go to those soon.
Why did you join the association?
I joined UAPA for the connections. Working with asphalt can be a lot of fun, and it is always changing. When industry practices change, UAPA helps us learn what’s going on in the industry. That helps us to stay on top of changes with our testing.
I wanted to join Women of Asphalt when I found out about it after joining Women in Safety. The construction industry is not tailored for women. These associations give women a chance to get together, learn and grow, and make things better as women in the industry.
How has Women of Asphalt been benefited you?
The information in the newsletters has been really nice. When the pandemic eases up and I feel safe going to their events, Women of Asphalt will help me learn more about asphalt and help me make connections and network. I would have liked to go to the Staker Parsons tour.
Has anyone mentored you? If yes, please tell us about that.
Darlene Batatian has been awesome. She reaches out with suggestions to help me grow within the company. Another person I have appreciated is our Lab Manager, Cory Schwendiman. He hired me even though I had no experience, and he has been great about teaching me everything I needed to know. Over the last 1.5 years, he has helped me get my lab certs by helping me enroll in the classes. He is always helping me improve. If I don’t know how to run a test, he teaches me, and I get certified in it. He has helped me grow quite a bit.
What advantage is there for women members of UAPA and Women of Asphalt?
I think it’s valuable because the networking opportunities and the connections you make put your name out there in the industry. You get to know other companies and individuals, and sometimes there are opportunities to help the people you’ve met. Once you have shown you are a good resource, you can become a mentor to other people.
If you could talk to other women about a career in your industry, what would you tell them?
It’s empowering. My work was a struggle for me at first because my job involves a lot of heavy lifting. I have to lift asphalt chunks that weigh 30-50 pounds over and over and move them around every day. It was tough to do that initially, but looking back, I can do a lot more than I used to.
Also, I had never used power tools.
Now I am totally comfortable with them. I recently used a power drill and put together a playhouse for my children.
Some days are tough. Your body is exhausted, but you make a difference. After projects are finished, we drive by them, and I think, “I did tests on that. I know that building is built on good ground.”
Would you please tell us about your family?
I have two children. My son is four years old, and my daughter is eight years old. My son loves taking me to the park. He has a really cool toolset that is better than mine because he has to have real tools. He takes apart everything he can. What’s fun is that I know when he plans to do something because he asks for his safety glasses. He is definitely going to be building things or taking them apart to figure out how they work when he gets older. My daughter is a little more the brains. She hints about what he can take apart, and she directs the destruction. She is super smart, really good at math and super social. She comes home and tells me about all of her friends and what they all did that day. She loves to talk all the time.
What do you enjoy doing when you aren’t working?
I enjoy cooking difficult, challenging things. For example, I taught myself how to make chilaquiles. It’s a brothy, tomato-based breakfast dish with crunchy, fried tortilla chips. You make the sauce, add crumbly cheese and put eggs on it. I also taught myself how to make Pork Wellington, a pastry around a pork loin. I like to bring that out when I want to impress somebody.
When I hang out with my children, one of my favorite things is showing them good movies. I love watching movies with them, and I make sure they know which old movies are good, like Smoky and the Bandit. Right now, our favorite movies are Spirited Away, Soul and Luka. Those are great new movies.
Any last words?
We could use more women in this industry. The work is rewarding, and the pay is good.
Money used to be a huge problem for me when I was working in the service industry or at a school. Working in the construction industry is a lot better. The money has made my life easier, and I can take care of myself and my children.
Some days are tough. Your body is exhausted, but you make a difference. After projects are finished, we drive by them, and I think, “I did tests on that. I know that building is built on good ground.” Or, “I did 20 tests on the soil under that building. Problems have been fixed, and when the building goes up, it’s going to be safe.” That kind of reward happens more often than you would think because you see your projects all the time. It’s really cool to notice a project when you drive by one of them.
