Celebrating International Women in Engineering Day with Dr. Crystal Pee Bowman

As International Women in Engineering Day recognizes the contributions of women in engineering and encourages them to enter the field, we’re delighted to highlight the contributions of Crystal Pee Bowman, Ph.D., Integer’s Technical Program Manager – Workforce Development.

In this role, Dr. Pee Bowman focuses on workforce development for the Department of Defense, with a focus on identifying gaps to increase the pipeline of students with a STEM education who are trained and ready to work with national security customers.

Dr. Pee Bowman first thought about a career in engineering when she saw that her cousin Paul Campbell was a graduate from Clemson University with a degree in Chemical Engineering.

What piqued her interest was that he didn’t end up working as an engineer, opening her eyes to the versatility of an engineering education where she could learn critical thinking skills, systems thinking, and build a skillset around how to solve problems.

Dr. Pee Bowman presents to K-12 students at a South Carolina STEM event.

“I was drawn to chemical engineering because you’re working with a team of people to make sure the reactions you’re creating are safe and controlled,” Dr. Pee Bowman said. “I love the excitement of big reactions, but I also value that safety is at the core of this field.”

During her internships, she noticed different career opportunities and pay gaps. She wanted to apply a scientific method to better understand this and incorporate human resources studies into her work, which led her to Virginia Tech’s Engineering Education program.

In her graduate work, Dr. Pee Bowman explored how early career engineers adjust to changing working conditions and use career adaptability responses. She hopes her work will help companies become better informed about the experience of people from various backgrounds to improve workforce policies and practices.

In her role at Integer, Dr. Pee Bowman works closely on a joint program with Benedict College aimed at both augmenting cyber-physical security of autonomous systems and developing a roadmap to widen the STEM workforce pathways for the DoD.

“At Benedict College, I interface with everyone from the president’s cabinet to undergrad students,” Dr. Pee Bowman told us. “I really enjoy impacting students, especially those who had not considered a career with the DoD, and equipping the professors with the tools to help them expand the students’ awareness.”

Dr. Pee Bowman’s husband, William Bowman, who is also a chemical engineer, volunteers with the Integer team at a South Carolina STEM event.

She often participates in STEM education events across South Carolina, including the recent STEM Saturday in Charleston. The Integer team joined Benedict College and Clemson University at an event that offered hands-on STEM activities – from AI, robotics, and virtual reality – to give K-12 students the opportunity to see where STEM education could take them.

Dr. Pee Bowman also makes it a family event, as her husband, William Bowman, who is also a chemical engineer and a graduate of Clemson University, volunteered at one of the booths. He led a hands-on slime-making experiment to teach students about polymers and chemical reactions in a fun, engaging way.

RoboNation’s 2025 RoboBoat competition in Florida was another fun-filled STEM education event that Dr. Pee Bowman and the Integer team participated in. High school and university students from around the world designed robotic boats that had to complete an obstacle course mimicking maritime industry problem sets. Whether they were setting up the course, keeping the boats on the course, or evaluating the competition, it was a great day on the ocean for the Integer team.

Will Ard, Autonomy Engineer II; Mikhalib Green LSU grad student; Chad Carpenter, Ph.D., Subsea Data Intelligence Engineering Manager; Crystal Pee Bowman, Ph.D., Technical Program Manager – Workfore Development; and Joshua Taylor, Software Engineer II, volunteer at RoboBoat 2025.

Through working with students and university, government, and industry partners, Dr. Pee Bowman plays an important role in Integer’s efforts to build up the defense tech ecosystem in South Carolina and beyond.

“I’ve worked with different stakeholders ranging from the C-suite to the factory floor. I really try to understand people’s needs and create solutions as a team so that people find them valuable,” Dr. Bowman said. “No matter what role I’m in, I try to make sure I’m serving the people that I’m working with so that I impact them positively.”