Guest

So my name is Crystal Harvey. Here at the Innovation Center, I'm the Assistant Director, here. And so what that kind of means is I manage all the staff down here, as well as do a lot of the programming that we have here. This is really focused on being a prototyping maker space. Prototyping meaning product development, first stage of trying to prove something will work. I went to U and R and graduated with my degree in mechanical engineering and actually, I went back to U and R in 2016 to get my MBA Because I didn't realize that I didn't love engineering until I was out in the work world. I spent two years as an R and D mechanical engineer. It was at a startup, and they lost a bunch of their funding, and laid off their whole junior engineering team, which included me. And so after that, it was a moment where I could decide to, okay, I'm just going to find another engineering job. But I hadn't been happy doing that, and what was supposed to kind of be my dream job out of college. It seems like the most valuable thing to have in your professional career is very accurately knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are. What your personal strengths and weaknesses are. What you’re knowledgeable on, what you’re not. What you should get help with and being very honest with yourself about it 

Take time to learn very accurately what your strengths and weaknesses are so that you know when you should push forward, when to ask for help, and when to stop. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and being honest with yourself about them is one of the most valuable things you can bring into your professional career. If you're fortunate enough to build an honest support group around yourself, listen to them when they give you those more difficult pieces of advice.

I loved math and science in school, so it was natural for me to pursue engineering. When I entered the workforce as an engineer, I realized I wasn't as happy as I should’ve been in the field, so I made a switch and went back to school for business.

The startup I was working for ended up losing a lot of funding and let go of their whole junior engineering team, which included me. However, the job loss gave me the opportunity to reflect on my interests and make a change.

I manage all of the staff at the University of Nevada, Reno Innevation Center and do a lot of the programming at the facility. The goal of the facility is to build Nevada's innovation economy from the perspective of the university, so I'm engaged in helping to facilitate that by leading the staff and programs.

Crystal Harvey

About Crystal

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