A year after graduating high school in Michigan, Lydia Pinkham (B.S. ’20) found herself in the belly of a 378-foot cutter—a commissioned vessel—off the coast of the state of Washington, working as an engineer in the Coast Guard. “I lived in a very small room that shared a wall with the engine room,” she says. “I would be asleep in my bunk against that wall, and I could hear machines turn on and off. When I’d hear one of the generators start, I knew that was my cue to get out of bed and go into the engine room to work.”

Before joining the Coast Guard, Pinkham loved science but didn’t feel equipped to pursue a career dedicated to learning about the planet. “In high school I wasn’t very strong in math. I assumed that limited my options,” she says. While working part-time and taking some classes at a local college, Pinkham met with a Coast Guard recruiter. “I said, ‘I’m not ready now but give me a call in a year. If I’m not doing anything, I’ll join.’ He called one year later to the day. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do and didn’t have a way of paying for college, so I enlisted.

”Pinkham was drawn to the Coast Guard branch of the U.S. Armed Forces because she wanted to serve in a way that felt like giving back. “I’m a big proponent of young adults taking time to serve the public while they decide what they want to do with their lives. That turned out to be the right choice for me.”

Classroom on the Water

In January 2011, Pinkham left for bootcamp in New Jersey and moved to Seattle, where she lived in the middle of the ocean on a massive ship designed for long-range, high-endurance missions. Though the ship’s home port was in Seattle, Pinkham was deployed all the way up to the Bering Sea near Alaska and down to the central Pacific Ocean near Central America for six months out of the year. “I spent my childhood in New England near water. I love being on boats,” she says. “The rest of the time on land felt like a nine-to-five job.”


On the ship, Pinkham worked in a three-story engine room that held huge diesel locomotive engines, two jet engine turbines, boilers, generators, and a machine that turned saltwater into freshwater. “I was a bilge rat for a couple years,” she says, using the ancient naval slang for workers in the engineering section at the bottom of the ship. It was there that she first fell in love with machinery. “A lot of knowing the machines is knowing the science behind how they work. I was fascinated by it.”

Although Pinkham loved science as a kid, her STEM classes in high school left her uninspired. But the connection and high stakes she found while living and working on the ship sparked a new energy. “I was in tune with everything around me. The ship was my home.”

 

On a bookshelf in her home, Pinkham displays the challenge coins she received while in the Coast Guard. These decorated medallions are presented by unit commanders to recognize special achievements.