Trishla Jain grew up in Mysore, an ancient city of fine art and culture. Located just two hours by train from Mysore, Bangalore is a modern city of steel and glass, the “Silicon Valley of India”. Together these two cities have an urban/suburban population of over 11 million people, numbers which present modern environmental challenges.
In her youth, Trishla found an early passion for the application of Engineering to solve these environmental challenges. The Swachh Survekshan Award is the world’s largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey, and each city assembles teams of volunteers to create innovative environmental solutions and compete with other cities to win the annual award. “Every city in India participates, and it comes with incentives so it is very prestigious. My city always ranks in the top three.” In her teens she joined the competition team, discovered her passion for the environment, and decided to make a change that would affect the course of her life. “Growing up, I wanted to be a doctor, and I DID get a seat in the University medical program, but did not end up there. I was very passionate about the environment, but Environmental Engineering is a niche field and I found out about it very late, so I decided to change my original plan and pursue a different degree.”
After finishing her Bachelors degree in Environmental Engineering and working for one year with AECOM in India, she made another life-changing decision to pursue a Masters Degree in the United States, 22 hours away from her family in Mysore. “While I was working, I felt that I needed to have more technical knowledge for faster advancement in my career, not just keep waiting for more career experience. I decided to do my Masters program at Texas A&M University, and that was my whole reason for coming to Texas.” The program at A&M was prestigious and competitive, the curriculum was exactly what she envisioned, and she especially loved the Aggie hospitality. “There were a lot of friendly people to help me around, and I didn’t have any trouble adjusting. The University provided me with the tools and the specific methods that I use daily.”
Soon after graduation, she met Ross at a career fair. After talking with him, she liked the company vision, and she formally interviewed for a Project Engineer position. “Initially it was more about finding a good job, but after interviewing, I joined DCS for the vision. I wanted to be a part of something small that will be something big in the future so I can be a part of it and see it grow.”
At DCS, she works as a Project Engineer II and mentors junior employees, while learning under her mentor, a senior Technical Project Manager. “Lately I’ve been working on a lot of lift station projects and water treatment plants, designing the plans and specifications, and computer modeling to plan water usage for entire cities. When I started my career, my perspective for what I would be solving was different than it is today. I thought I would be helping nature, but now I see that my job is to help the clients use nature but also stay compliant with the law.”
Trishla has embraced the diversity of the Texas lifestyle. “I’ve explored pretty much all of Texas: Dallas, Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, College Station. The mountains, the beach, the cities. I grew up in south India at a high altitude, and the maximum that the temperature reaches is 68 or 70. The temperature here is very hot, but I still haven’t adjusted to the humidity!” She enjoys the young vibrant culture in Austin, socializing, enjoying sports and the outdoors. “Since I’ve been here for 4 years, I’ve gotten a lot more into hiking. Austin is a great city to be in because it’s a much younger crowd, and I find a lot of things to do over the weekend. I spend quite a lot of time playing tennis. I DO enter tournaments sometimes but not with the goal of winning. I’m into gaming, I play a lot of board games too. I just like gaming in general.”
Trishla likes exploring the regional fusion of international flavors in the Austin food scene. “There are always really good places here that keep opening up, new concepts.” She also enjoys exploring the hidden speakeasy bars around Austin. “Some of them require you to solve a puzzle to gain entry. I love games, board games, puzzles, so they are quite interesting.”
Although she has settled into her new life 9,500 miles away from home, she still finds ways to stay close to her family. “I have visited my parents twice in the last four years, but I talk to them every night, at least 10 minutes on FaceTime. They won’t let me go a day without talking. They want to be sure that I’m doing well, that I ate well, and that I had a good day. It makes me happy to see them, and know that they are doing fine.”