Minnesota NRCS State Hydraulic Engineer Sonia Maassel Jacobsen (NRCS image -- click to enlarge)

Minnesota NRCS State Hydraulic Engineer Sonia Maassel Jacobsen recently distinguished herself by claiming two American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) “firsts.” She was not only the first NRCS woman to be named as an ASABE fellow, but also the first non-academic woman to receive the honor.

Jacobsen began her career with NRCS in 1976 when she worked for two years as an engineer trainee first in the Saint Peter, Minnesota, and then in the Rochester NRCS Area Office. In 1979 Sonia moved to the Illinois NRCS State Office in Champaign where she served as a design engineer on the engineering staff and later as a planning engineer on the Water Resources Planning Staff. Three years later she served as a P.L. 566 flood control project engineer in the Lisle, Illinois Project Office. In 1986 Sonia moved to her current position as Minnesota NRCS State Hydraulic Engineer.

In 2000 she was recognized as one of 10 candidates for Federal Engineer of the Year.  In 2001, Sonia was recognized as the NRCS Engineer of the Year. Her agricultural engineering work in Nicaragua helping farmers recover from the devastation caused in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch earned her recognition by the broader engineering community.  In 2006, Sonia was profiled in the ASCE publication Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers, that featured profiles of more than 200 women engineers, for that work.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers is a scientific and educational organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food, and biological systems.  Founded in 1907 and headquartered in St Joseph, Michigan, ASABE comprises 9,000 members representing more than 100 countries.  ASABE members serve in industry, academia, and public service and are uniquely qualified to determine and develop more efficient and environmentally sensitive methods of cultivating food, fiber, and timber for an ever-increasing world population.
Your contact is NRCS hydraulic engineer Sonia Maassel Jacobsen at 651-602-7879.