It’s been 21 years since Dr. Chuck Wolf graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Despite having a successful career in industry — which took him to Avondale, Arizona, for several years and then Los Angeles, California — Wolf did what many other Aggies have done. He came back to College Station to give back to the university that he loves.
Since 2014, Wolf has been teaching courses in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as a professor of practice. One of 85 professors of practice within the College of Engineering, Wolf brings real-world experience and advice into the classroom. He’s hopeful that he’ll play a small role in molding young civil engineers who will one day define the industry themselves.
“Having the opportunity to work at Texas A&M has easily been the bright spot of my professional life since returning,” Wolf said. “While most of my professors have retired, the faculty team here is still the best I have ever worked with at connecting with people. They have helped me improve my teaching and engage in meaningful research.”
Inspiring kids to explore STEM
While Wolf said he feels excited for the future of engineering, he’s also concerned that the number of students entering college to study engineering is far below what it should be in order to meet the current and future demand.
According to the United States Department of Labor, nearly 140,000 new jobs are expected to be created for engineers by 2026. Recent data collected by Junior Achievement found that the percentage of boys who are interested in STEM dropped from 36% in 2018 to 24% in 2017. The same survey found that only 11% of girls are interested in STEM.
“I have been disturbed for pretty much my entire career by the fact that we are producing woefully fewer engineers than we need as a country,” he said. “I have joked at times that I don’t want to reach retirement and feel guilty that we still don’t have enough professionals to maintain and improve our infrastructure and make a big impact on quality of life.”
Wolf wants to change this, so he has invested time in several volunteer activities over the years, including efforts to inspire kids to study engineering at the schools where his wife, Jackie, has taught middle school science.
From middle schoolers to doctorate students
Wolf is also passionate about educating undergraduate and graduate students about an academic path often overlooked — the Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng). After completing his bachelor’s degree in 1998, Wolf stayed at Texas A&M and completed a master’s degree, and eventually earned a Doctor of Engineering a few years later.
Unlike a Ph.D. program, the D.Eng focuses less on research and more on developing industry leaders.
“I love working with people and leading and supporting teams, but the skills pertinent to doing this in a business setting are not part of a traditional engineering degree program,” he said. “When faced with office and project leadership opportunities early in my career, I knew I needed to add these skills and add them in a way that connected to the engineering profession, not just business in general. The D.Eng program was the perfect solution.”
Fewer than 100 Aggies have earned the D.Eng degree, even though it’s been around since the 1970s. Wolf thinks this is a shame, because the degree benefited his career exponentially.
Becoming an industry leader
When Wolf graduated with his D.Eng degree and re-entered the workforce at a civil engineering consultancy firm in 2001, he found he was far better prepared to handle higher level, business-facing assignments than some of his peers.
“I also was able to fill out my technical capabilities to be a more well-rounded design professional and project manager,“ he said. “This combination of business understanding and technical skills, which is unique to the D.Eng degree, allowed me to confidently say ‘yes’ when opportunities for advancement were presented.”
Wolf was able to advance his career quickly, from a deputy project manager, to project manager, staff manager and finally a business manager. The skills he learned also helped him in other areas of his life — like the few years he spent as vice mayor of Avondale, Arizona. “Within 10 years of completing the D.Eng degree, I had the opportunity to take on roles that I didn’t expect to have within the first 20 years of my career before the degree,” he said.
In the end, however, Wolf simply wants to make a difference. He’s passionate about engineering education and the impact that engineers can have on society. That’s why he’s back in Aggieland, inspiring the next generation of civil engineers.