“That means that if you have no apples and you have no apples, and you have no apples, then you have an apple,” he told her.
“That makes no sense,’’ the 5-year-old countered.
When she grew up and headed to math class, then, she was not easily cowed and often was familiar with the many math terms she had heard from her earliest childhood like factorials.
“It was a lot easier for me,’’ she said. “It was not a foreign language when I got to the classes.’’
Unlike many young women, Petersen, a bioengineering major, was never afraid of math.
The two are quite possibly the first mother-daughter engineering award-winners in the college.
Pioneer among women
When Renee Petersen grew up in Montana, engineering was not a field that was encouraged for women. Growing up before Title IX or the era of feminism, Renee Petersen simply liked math in school. With the help of a good math teacher, she early on saw the power of math as the key to difficult puzzles that couldn’t be solved easily. She planned to become a math teacher.
Discouraged by friends, who didn’t think much of teaching, Petersen wondered if there might be any other field for women who loved math. In those days, guidance counselors were divided for young men and women. When Petersen approached her counselor, she was told that home economics would be her best option if she liked math.
Petersen was still wondering what she would study when she heard an announcement at school encouraging young men to apply for a scholarship in engineering. Thinking that engineering might have something to do with math, Petersen approached the young men’s guidance counselor and asked if she might apply. She did and received a $250 scholarship to Montana State University, where she went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
She later received a master’s degree in engineering mechanics from Iowa State University. She taught high school math for several years and currently teaches statics, mechanics of materials, and engineering administration in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Petersen is married to Jim Petersen, director of the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. Three of their four children are studying engineering, and the fourth is studying math.
Breaking down barriers
Growing up in a family that had fun doing math and in which math facts were part of everyday dinnertime banter, Johanna Petersen never thought she had to be extra smart to do engineering. She thinks many other young women are intimidated by the field and, therefore, shy away from it.
Engineering remains one of the most highly male-dominated fields, with approximately 17 percent of undergraduate degrees awarded to women.
In her years of teaching, Renee Petersen has worked to break down barriers for the next generation. She has encouraged her students to participate in math competitions and has talked to students about engineering “all the time,’’ said Johanna.
At WSU, Petersen is known for being fair and going out of her way to make sure her students don’t fail.
“She honestly wants to share the joy and love that she has for engineering with her students,” wrote Gabriela Barbosa-Rodriguez, a sophomore in civil engineering, in her nomination of Petersen for outstanding instructor. “It is so apparent when you arrive in class on the first day that she is approachable and extremely willing to help as well. I know first-hand that she is always willing to help a student.’’
Marriage, med school – and math
This summer, Johanna Petersen will be participating in a Center for Integrated Biotechnology Fellowship, working in the lab of Susmita Bose, associate professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. She is also set to marry her fiancé, John Feuerstein, in June.
With a longtime interest in the medical field, Petersen is considering graduate school but is leaning toward attending medical school. During high school, she worked as a volunteer at Gritman Hospital and studied to become a certified nurse assistant. She worked for a year after high school as a CNA.
In fact, she was torn between studying nursing and engineering — until she looked at the nursing curriculum and saw a dearth of required math classes.
“How could I survive without math classes?’’ she wondered.
