Juanita Jean Collins Neitling (b. 1936), an enrolled member of the Yakama tribe, was the first woman to be hired as a chemical engineer by the Seattle branch of the Monsanto Corporation. Neitling (at the time going by Collins) had spent ten years raising children and working in the home before returning to college to study chemical engineering at the University of Washington (UW), completing her degree in 1969. She returned to UW for a Master's degree and started working at Monsanto while a student. At Monsanto she worked first as a chemist, and then moved to engineering to work as a production supervisor for a crew of eight men.
Juanita Collins Neitling later moved to Ohio, where she worked as a production manager for a Crown-Zellerbach, the first and, at the time, only woman working for the company. She was active in the Society of Women Engineers, and was chairperson of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Puget Sound Section, in 1978-79. As of 2025, Juanita Collins Neitling lives in Woodinville, WA.
This photo shows Juanita Collins working at a desk at the Monsanto Corporation plant.
Caption information source: "'Engineering' a Good Future" by Susan Paynter, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 23, 1973, p. C4 Caption information source: "Ohoyo One Thousand: A Resource Guide of American Indian/Alaska Native Women" by Owanah Anderson, 1982, p. 28.
