Stacey E. Brown's accomplishments earned her a Career Achievement in Government Award at the 2017 Women of Color STEM Conference. She is currently Deputy Chief, South Atlantic Division, Regional Integration Team, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

WHAT SHE DOES: Stacey Brown oversees an $822 million program for the South Atlantic Division region’s Civil Works Directorate. She supervises a water resources team, which is responsible for civil works related to the development of navigation, hurricane protection, erosion control, multipurpose reservoirs, local flood protection, environmental restoration, water supply, water quality, and watershed ecosystem management improvements.

HOW SHE GOT TO THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS: “My mother worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was the first African American in the personnel office in the Baltimore District. She later went on to be Chief of Recruitment and Placement. After graduating from high school, my mother had me take the Civil Service test so I could get a summer job. I took the test and scored so highly that I was referred for a position as a GS-2 clerk-typist in the Office of the Post Commander at Fort George G. Meade. Although I told them during the interview that I would be going to Tufts University in the fall to study civil engineering, they offered me the job anyway. At the end of the summer, they offered to put me on leave without pay.

"[As] a sophomore in college, I asked the colonel in the Directorate of Engineering and Housing whether they hired civil engineers. He said they did and told me to call his office. I later transferred to his office, but they weren’t very busy, so I set up an interview with one of the supervisors in the Planning Division in the Baltimore District office. At the conclusion of the interview, they offered me a job. I continued to work there [during] semester breaks. Following graduation, I transferred to the San Francisco District of the Corps of Engineers, where I was on the rotational program prior to being permanently assigned to the Planning Engineering Division.”

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: “In 1997 I was awarded an Achievement Medal for Civilian Service for my work as project manager for a $500 million project that resulted in the restoration of 11,100 acres of remote island habitat in the Chesapeake Bay, providing a placement site for 40 million cubic yards of sediment dredged from the channels leading to the Port of Baltimore. My father and I spent a lot of time boating on the Chesapeake Bay, and I was glad to be able to do something to help preserve some of the habitat and wildlife. I enjoy performing my supervisory responsibilities and take pleasure in mentoring. I believe that the employees that I develop and that get promoted are my legacy.”