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Join Nora and Bill with their guest, CDR Ian Underwood. They discuss Ian's journey in STEM where he embraces his wanderlust and leaves college to enlist and then comes back later to finish his degree. He relates how real-world experience doing hard and dirty jobs helped him find his path where now he leads teams of people to keep the critical infrastructure of Navy bases operating every day.
Biography
Commander Underwood is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, and a 2007 graduate of North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering. He holds a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida and a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina. He commissioned through the Seaman-to-Admiral 21 program after serving as an Engineering Aide.

CDR Underwood’s operational tours include crew supervisor, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7; platoon commander and Officer-in-Charge of Detail Haiti, Amphibious Construction Battalion 2; and Force Readiness Officer, 1st Naval Construction Division.

His shore assignments include construction manager, Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Public Works Officer, Marine Barracks Washington, D.C.; Professor of Contracting and Facilities Engineering at the Defense Acquisition University; and Resident Officer in Charge of Construction at Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Maryland; and Assistant Operations Officer for NAVFAC EURAFCENT in Naples, Italy. He assumed his current role of Public Works Officer, Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island in July 2023.

CDR Underwood is a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a member of the Defense Acquisition Corps, a qualified Seabee Combat Warfare Officer, and a certified Project Management Professional.