Welcome to the Engineering Solutions by Design News podcast, where we examine the toughest problems that engineers have overcome in their careers, sharing their solutions for your benefit. Erika Jefferson was a chemical engineer in 2015, remotely managing her company's hydrogen-producing plants from hundreds of miles away in the pre-Zoom work-from-home world. She created a dashboard in Excel to view the plants' performance to accurately forecast the month-in-advance natural gas purchase nominations needed to keep the plants running on a budget.

Jefferson's greatest engineering challenge came when Snowmageddon struck the midwestern plants, throwing plans into disarray. And just when she thought she had it straightened out, her boss got involved. Listen to the Engineering Solutions by Design News podcast to hear her solution to this combination of headaches.

Today, Jefferson leads Black Women in Science and Engineering, a non-profit that is dedicated to developing the careers of Black women with degrees in science, math, and engineering.