COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center
TITLE: Project manager
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 14
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level II in facilities engineering and program management
EDUCATION: M.S. in management and human resource management, Florida Institute of Technology; B.S. in business management and human resource management, Athens State University; associate degree in business management and accounting, John C. Calhoun Community College
AWARDS: Special acts and performance awards (18)
By Susan L. Follett
“I’ll be honest: I had no idea at the age of 18 what I was getting myself into.” Fortunately, things worked out well for Lindsey Miller, who parlayed a high school internship into a 14-year career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She’s currently a project manager for the Chemical Warfare Materiel Design Center (CWMDC) at the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center at Huntsville, Alabama.
Part of Huntsville’s Ordnance and Explosives Directorate, the CWMDC provides the Army with environmental response capability for activities that involve chemical warfare materiel, investigating and remediating chemical weapons remnants. The CWMDC works with a variety of other government agencies, including the U.S. Army Materiel Command, the CBRNE [Chemical, Biological, Radiation, Nuclear and Explosives] Analytical and Remediation Agency, the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center, the U.S. Army Environmental Command, the U.S. Army Technical Center for Explosives Safety and the DOD Explosives Safety Board. Miller’s team ensures that appropriate action is taken to address chemical warfare materiel disposal. “Knowing that my job protects human health and the environment by creating a safer tomorrow gives me the greatest satisfaction,” she said.
For Miller, the hardest part of her job is dealing with scope change, which can come from the Army, her customer or state regulators. Changed site conditions have the biggest impact on chemical warfare materiel projects: more chemical warfare materiel items encountered than anticipated, which can lead to schedule delays and cost increases; or different items encountered than anticipated, which can affect work plans and safety submission changes. “We do our very best upfront to read all historical information on a site, but sometimes the historical information contains data gaps or just doesn’t really exist at all with the exception of knowing that it was a former CWM site,” Miller said.
“I have to evaluate each request and decide how and if to implement it, while communicating the effects on budget and deadlines to all stakeholders,” she explained. “And once changes are encountered, I have to weigh each variable and lead my project delivery team to develop courses of action and then execute the best one that tries to satisfy the customer and all stakeholders.”
Her work at USACE began right after high school, when she found out that the Huntsville Center was hiring students for the Summer Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP). “I knew that working for the Army as a civilian was something that I definitely didn’t want to turn down,” said Miller. “After I had been working on Summer STEP for a month or so and had gotten over all of my anxieties, I knew this is where I wanted to be.” She was assigned to the Executive Office, but she also had the opportunity to rotate through other offices, including the travel, security and legal departments, the Engineering Directorate and the Equal Employment Opportunity Office, each with its own procedures and processes. Through the varied assignments she learned a range of skills, including how to process travel orders and vouchers, prepare memorandums and process taskers. “No other student that I know of had the opportunity to work for different offices. I was extremely fortunate,” she said.
So, when the summer ended, the decision to stay was a no-brainer. “I pushed my supervisor to allow me to stay because I was learning so many new things and being given great opportunities to grow and establish a career that would allow me to make a difference working for the Army.” She worked through STEP for two more years before transitioning to the Student Career and Experience Program. Once she graduated from college, she was hired as a project management specialist on the Unaccompanied Personnel Housing Program. Four years later, she accepted her current position in the CWMDC.
Several years into her career, Miller opted to pursue the project management professional (PMP) certification, which she received in 2012. “Getting the PMP certification took a lot of dedication and a great deal of preparation. The process exposed me to mainstream thinking on project management standards, techniques, best practices and current trends. It also gave me the opportunity to network with other PMPs,” she noted. Having the PMP gives her a better understanding of the project management framework. “I actually felt more satisfaction earning my PMP than I did when I completed my master’s degree,” Miller said, “because of the real-time application of the knowledge that I gained from the certification program.”
Getting the PMP certification is one of several recommendations Miller would make to others interested in a similar path. Also on the list: Be a sponge. “Soak up as much information on becoming a project manager as you can. Learn the craft to make sure it’s something you truly want to do. I would also recommend taking advantage of the DAWIA classes, not only in program management but in other career fields.”
Looking back on her own career path, she noted that she’s grateful for the colleagues she’s worked with. “I’ve learned from watching and listening to them and learning from their mistakes as well as my own.” But she added that her greatest mentor is her grandmother. “She has taught me many great things about life, but the two that have stuck with me the most are that I can do anything I set my mind to, and ‘this too shall pass.’ ”
While the first suggestion was easy to adopt, the second was a little more difficult to grasp, Miller said. “Trials and tribulations are a part of life, both personally and professionally, and no trial experienced in life is wasted. It ministers to our education and to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. This carries into the workplace very well: We all experience project frustrations daily, but I always try to make them a learning opportunity.”
DIGGING THE JOB
Lindsey Miller and a coworker bury inert items for the Huntsville Survey at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, in January 2013. Pine Bluff Arsenal was one of nine Army installations in the U.S. that stored chemical weapons; Miller’s team aids in the process of disposing of them. (Photo courtesy of Lindsey Miller)
This article is scheduled to be published in the April – June 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.
“Faces of the Force” is an online series highlighting members of the Army Acquisition Workforce through the power of individual stories. Profiles are produced by the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center Communication and Support Branch, working closely with public affairs officers to feature Soldiers and civilians serving in various AL&T disciplines. For more information, or to nominate someone, please contact 703-664-5635.
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