Get to Know Jasmine Tayouga
December 04, 2020
Jasmine Tayouga is an Associate Project Manager based in our Charlotte, NC location. She has worked for S&ME since 2013 and is currently serving our Energy Business Unit clients.
Pipeline project
With a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from NC State and a Master’s degree in Geography from UNC Charlotte, Jasmine had the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the groundwater field during her time at NC State, working for a groundwater management company. Upon completing her undergraduate degree, Jasmine had interest in the Urban Planning field but directed her efforts in graduate school towards stormwater management and GIS systems. After she graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2013, Jasmine joined us at S&ME, initially assisting with pipeline-related projects and GIS mapping. Jasmine describes her experience as a mix of Environmental, Geology, Hydrogeology, and Construction Quality Assurance.
Jasmine typically spends about half her time in the field and half her time in the office. In the field, the majority of her projects involve sampling groundwater, installing monitoring wells, construction quality assurance for landfill projects, and overseeing subsurface exploration projects. In the office, Jasmine spends time analyzing and mapping field data, comparing and analyzing data from sampling events, and compiling a variety of reports (water quality monitoring, subsurface investigations, certification reports for quality assurance projects, etc.).
Jasmine says she enjoys interfacing with clients to help them better understand the issues they are looking to solve and serve their needs. Jasmine tells us the data we often collect is technical, and she likes being challenged to help think of new ways to share information with clients to help them better interpret and understand it.
“A spreadsheet is not always that useful. It’s important to understand the bigger picture of what the client is looking for.”
We asked Jasmine what her favorite project has been since working at S&ME?
One of her favorite projects was in 2015, where she was involved with several months of soil test borings, rock coring, field permeability testing, and installing monitoring wells at two coal ash sites in the Charlotte, NC vicinity. Once the fieldwork portion was completed, Jasmine assisted with compiling data and performing calculations with the collected field data. Seeing projects from their relative start to finish is one of her favorite parts of this line of work.
Coal ash pond before closing with liner.
Coal ash pond with liner.
One of Jasmine’s most recent large scale projects was performing construction quality assurance on a closure project at a nuclear facility, where unused material was being capped in place. On this project, she ensured the geosynthetics were properly installed to specifications and provided inspections and suggestions to help keep everyone involved in the project on the same page.
What is your advice for someone in the industry?
“If you are just getting started, say yes to projects or tasks that you may not be super familiar with. That’s how I found out what I was good at and enjoyed, and what wasn’t for me, and it’s a great way to meet people. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The more you talk to people, the more you know, and can build relationships down the line.”