Erica Ruiz ’00

As a senior electrical engineer at El Paso Electric, Erica Ruiz uses her skills and education to power our city.

Erica helps set the foundation for clean energy use in El Paso. She developed a scorecard for the company’s power plants that compiles data and information about plant reliability, operation and financial performance, allowing the managers to make informed decisions. As a plant engineer, she uses the skills she developed as a UTEP student for maintenance processes that help to improve the plants’ output of clean and reliable energy for the community.

Erica always knew she wanted a job utilizing her math and science skills, but it wasn’t until learning about different engineering majors during new student orientation at UTEP that she chose electrical engineering.

She selected UTEP because she knew she wanted to use the University’s world-class technology and connect with world-renowned faculty to learn and propel her career. Under the mentorship of her professors, including Dr. Pat Nava and Dr. Benjamin Flores, she created a path for herself within the field of electrical engineering.

“The coursework really gave me the foundation to understand the complexities of a power plant, from the turbine to the auxiliary supporting equipment at the plant, controls, digital design, thermal dynamics – the workings of the plant,” Erica said. “Seeing the professors excel in their fields, I learned how to be a professional and how to carry myself. I got to see how they’re propelling the field of electrical engineering forward.”