It’s a multitasking world we now live in, and Grace Quaintance is the epitome of the term. 

Graduating Cum Laude from Washkewicz College of Engineering at Cleveland State University in 2022 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, Quaintance, a wife and mother of two is currently employed as a Facilities Engineer for Cleveland Clinic’s Buildings and Design Department. 

“In the facilities department we deal with buildings, buildings that are crumbling, and how to improve their infrastructure. Hospitals are buildings that need to be operational 24/7,” said Quaintance. 

In addition, Quaintance made the Dean’s List and served on the Engineering Dean’s Diversity Council in 2022 and was a member of the Robotics club, as well as the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and IEEE Women in Engineering. 

This past fall she joined the University’s Electrical & Computer Engineering Department (ECE) after receiving the National Science Foundation’s Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Graduate Fellowship (CSGrad4US) award for her doctoral studies.  CISE Graduate Fellowships increase the number of diverse, domestic graduate students pursuing research and innovation careers in the CISE fields, namely computer engineering, computer science and information science. 

Quaintance has one of her favorite professors, Dr. Mehdi Rahmati, to thank for suggesting she apply for the award.  Rahmati is an Assistant Professor and Director of Intelligent Communications and Autonomous Systems Laboratory for ECE. 

“The NSF CSGrad4US program offers a valuable opportunity and generous fellowship for students under the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) to encourage them to return to graduate school,” shared Dr. Rahmati. Although highly competitive, it is particularly beneficial for underrepresented groups. 

When he saw the announcement, “I immediately thought of Grace. I informed her and offered my full support for her application. I knew her from her undergraduate days at CSU. She was an excellent student in my courses, completed a year-long senior design project with me, and worked as a research assistant in my lab for another semester. Her determination and motivation make her an excellent role model for other students particularly women in engineering. I am so proud of her and thrilled that she is back to CSU to start her PhD journey, and I look forward to continuing our research together.” Said Dr. Rahmati, Assistant Professor and Director of Intelligent Communications and Autonomous Systems Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. 

But there’s so much more to her story. 

Many education and career paths are more roundabout than clearly defined; Quaintance’s early post-secondary education was evidence of this.  While starting out as a computer engineering major at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering University – although her initial desire was computer animation – she switched her major to Architecture and went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in 2008. 

“Ironically, I graduated with my degree the same year of the collapse of the housing market, so there were no architecture jobs to be found.” 

But she did find a job in public safety, serving as a dispatcher for the City of Tallahassee Police Department in Florida. Once she and her husband relocated to Ohio in 2012, she landed a position with the Ohio State Highway Patrol as a 911 Dispatcher and would continue in a similar role for the City of Parma’s regional dispatch center from 2015-2022.  

“I just happened to fall into the initial dispatching job, and I found it very interesting; each day was completely different,” said Quaintance.   

It was a job offer from NASA for her husband that prompted the move to Cleveland. “Due to my schedule with Parma (working nights), I was able to return to school.” With such a demanding schedule, does Quaintance have time for hobbies? 

As far as hobbies go, she says her “hobby is collecting hobbies.  Over the years, I’ve completed three quilts, but I have a multitude of quilts that are ‘in progress.’  Quilts are what my grandma used to make. She would take my grandpa's old shirts and make these cute little quilts. And I kind of got into that. It's just that finishing a quilt is a lot of work. Other than quilts, I just haven’t found another hobby that’s stuck.”