New Voices: Mateja Vidovic Klanac

Growing up in Croatia, Mateja Vidovic Klanac says she always wanted to be a teacher. When it came time to take her entrance exams for college, she applied to a teaching university and, to appease her mother, the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, a Croatian education and research institute commonly referred to as FKIT.

She was offered a scholarship to attend FKIT and went on to earn her master’s in environmental engineering, eventually landing a job working in the air quality sector. In 2016, she experienced what she describes as a “life-changing moment” when she moved to the U.S. to join a research team led by Professor Daniel Meeroff at Florida Atlantic University (FAU).

“This decision marks not only a continent shift but also a turning point in my career trajectory,” Vidovic Klanac says.

She earned a second master’s in civil engineering from FAU, an experience she says offered her a blend of unique experiences and perspectives.

Following her educational journey, she joined the SCS Engineers team at the company’s West Palm Beach, Florida, office as an engineering consultant.

Now, almost seven years later, Vidovic Klanac is involved in a diverse range of projects in the environmental engineering field, including landfill design, lateral and vertical expansions permitting and geotechnical work.

In the following interview with Waste Today, she discusses her experiences at FAU and her move to the U.S.

Waste Today (WT): As you pursued your master’s degree at FAU, what was it like being introduced to landfills and waste management?

Mateja Vidovic Klanac (MK): At FAU, I got an opportunity to work on research where I was investigating effective odor control strategies to assist landfill site personnel in managing daily operations based on weather conditions. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of meteorological conditions such as temperature, humidity, pressure, wind direction, wind speed, precipitation and weather conditions [based] on the frequency of odor complaints from neighborhoods ... in close proximity to the landfills.

Several sophisticated statistical analyses were developed with over 10 years of data, but no direct relationship was discovered between weather and odor complaints.

... The study recognized that there is [a] need for more detailed information, and some improvements were suggested, including a revised odor complaint form and operational adjustments.

WT: What led you to make a career jump to environmental engineering and the personal jump to move from Croatia to the U.S.?

MK: It was professional growth.

I feel like in the States, if you really want something and you’re hungry—hungry for the knowledge, for the growth—your possibilities are endless. While back home [in Croatia], it’s a little bit of a different situation. Everything is related to [your] connections. It doesn’t really matter the knowledge [or] the experience you have, it’s more linear to who you know and how much you’re involved in politics.

I didn’t want that for my future, or potentially [for] my family in the future. It was more like experiencing what life is [like] abroad.

Getting an opportunity like that, where you have a paid scholarship, you’re able to do a new project in a new country … it was [a] once-in-a-lifetime [opportunity]. So, I was like, “What can I lose? I can always go back home.”