Dayana Arrue’s parents had a dream. They dreamed of a better life for her and her two older siblings. When Dayana was 6 years old, they left their native country of El Salvador and came to the United States, settling in Newark.

The summer after 11th grade, Ms. Arrue attended a summer program that was run by the Earth Science Department of Rutgers-Newark. It clicked with her. “Ever since I was little, I felt connected to the outdoors.” The program inspired Dayana to pursue an education in the earth sciences.

She got an Associate Degree at Essex Community College and then matriculated to Rutgers-Newark on full scholarship. In her senior year, she won two prestigious awards: an Elmeryl Davies Memorial Scholarship from the LSRPA, and the H.P. Woodward Award, which goes to the top graduating student in the Earth Science Department, as determined by its faculty. “I wish I had a class full of Dayana Arrues,” says Alec Gates, her academic advisor and chair of the Department at the time. Despite attending Rutgers tuition-free, the scholarships helped. “I was able to pay for my books, and didn’t have to be a financial burden to my family.”

She worked at Langan Engineering for five years after graduation, transferring to Denver, Colorado in 2021, and switching to part-time work so she could study full-time at the Colorado School of Mines. After she got her M.S. degree in 2023, she went to work full-time with TetraTech, providing technical services on an USEPA emergency response contract. Among her high-profile job assignments was responding to the chemical spill caused by a train derailment in Palestine, Ohio.

Ms. Arrue will be sitting for the P.E. exam this April. Outside of work, Dayana loves to go paddleboarding, hiking, and scaling Colorado’s high peaks. She is fulfilling the dream of her parents. And her own.