GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Liz Wilkinson didn't always plan to be an engineer. But nearly 25 years after joining the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she has spent the last five years as the operations manager at the Grand Haven office — overseeing 18 harbors along Michigan's West Coast.
WATCH: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operations manager keeps West Michigan's 18 harbors safe and open
"My dad's an engineer, which is super cool, but I kind of thought he's a nerd, and I thought I was cooler than that," Wilkinson joked.
That changed at the University of Michigan, where Wilkinson transferred out of the liberal arts college and into engineering.
"I really like math and science," Wilkinson said. "I loved the idea of actually seeing things applied and producing something at the end of my work, and so I ended up transferring into engineering and never looked back. I'm so glad I did it."
Wilkinson, a native of Edwardsburg, Michigan, went on to earn a master's degree in project management from Northwestern University's civil engineering program. She spent over two decades with the Corps of Engineers working in cities including Detroit, Chicago, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek before landing in Grand Haven five years ago.
"I'd always kind of wanted to come to Grand Haven, and just got — I had kind of given up on that dream," Wilkinson said.
The Grand Haven office is responsible for maintaining 18 harbors along Michigan's West Coast — 12 recreational and 6 commercial. Those commercial channels carry bulk commodities critical to the region's economy.
"It's mostly aggregate, cement, salt, a lot of bulk commodities that support infrastructure and construction in West Michigan," Wilkinson said. "It's the most efficient way to transport that type of material. So it ends up saving taxpayers and creating jobs."
Keeping those channels open requires constant work. Dredging is the primary tool.
"We've got a bunch of harbors that need to be dredged every spring, every year, in order to keep them open for the whole season, whole shipping season," Wilkinson said. "The beautiful beaches and sand that we have here in West Michigan, it's this great, great resource that we have, but it also moves around in the nearshore a lot, and so it fills in the channels every year."
The office also manages pier and structure rehabilitation. Wilkinson said the piers present a unique challenge because they serve both navigation and recreation.
"They're installed and constructed to support navigation, so really just to keep that channel open longer, but we know they're used heavily for recreation," Wilkinson said. "We try to do what we can to support that usage as well."
Collaboration with local municipalities is another key part of the job — and one Wilkinson said she values deeply.
"I love being able to support the communities in West Michigan," Wilkinson said. "They tell me what they think that they need, what they think would be best for their community, how the harbor can support their local economy, and then I get to come back and pass that information back to my teams within the Corps of Engineers and try to support their goals."
Several major projects are already in the pipeline. The office is planning dredging at multiple harbors next spring and has secured construction funding for a number of structure rehabilitations.
The Holland North Revetment project will rehabilitate approximately 500 feet of structure near Holland State Park over the next couple of summers. The office is also funded for construction at the Frankfort North Breakwater, where a significant rehabilitation is planned.
At St. Joseph, the Corps has secured construction funds for the St. Joseph North Pierhead — a project that may require temporarily removing the lighthouse to complete the reconstruction before returning it to its original location.
"That'll be pretty unique. I haven't seen something like that before, but it seems to be our our best plan for preserving the lighthouse and rehabbing the pierhead," Wilkinson said.
For Wilkinson, the work carries personal meaning. Growing up, she and her friends would visit Warren Dunes and Silver Beach in St. Joseph.
"Just fell in love with the beaches and Lake Michigan at that time, and really hoped to do something related to working on the Great Lakes," Wilkinson said.
She said the role gives her a way to serve that she wouldn't otherwise have.
"I'm not able to be in the military. Like, those people are tough. I'm a wimp, and so this is my way to be able to serve the communities," Wilkinson said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
