Rebecca L.R. Sibberson was inspired to become an electrical engineer by her father, who served as a nuclear electrician in the U.S. Navy. In her current role as a senior engineer and distribution reliability advisor with Arizona Public Service, she primarily works in power distribution, ensuring that the system is protected and as reliable as possible. Ms. Sibberson tracks and analyzes past outages and problems, determines root causes and works toward fixing any vulnerabilities she may discover.
To assist in her work, Ms. Sibberson created the Power BI dashboard to access Arizona Public Service’s outage data, a feat she regards with particular pride. Before the dashboard, accessing outage data was a tedious process of manual retrieval and conversion, whereas now the data is automatically imported and even contains automated troubleshooting features. Ms. Sibberson’s system even calculates industry metrics, such as how many outages a customer experienced and for how long. In 2021 and 2023, Ms. Sibberson was recognized with the Arizona Public Service Living the Vision Award for her exceptional work on the Power BI dashboard and for her efforts in fire mitigation.
Ms. Sibberson’s professional journey spans more than 15 years and takes her back to Clifton Park, New York, where she worked for TRC Companies Inc. as an electrical engineer from 2009 to 2011. From 2011 to 2013, she was a rotational engineer with Eversource Energy in Berlin, Connecticut, additionally serving as a distribution protection and controls engineer with the same company until 2016. Ms. Sibberson relocated to Arizona, where she began her tenure with Arizona Public Service as a senior distribution operations engineer from 2016 to 2022 before accepting her current role. Throughout her career as an electrical engineer, she has remained grateful for the support of her family, without whom she would not be able to do what she does. Notably, she experienced the dual impact of Hurricane Irene and a subsequent snowstorm and was responsible for the service restoration efforts. Ms. Sibberson gathered the necessary data and identified the work that needed to be done to serve her customers as best as possible and minimize downtime.
Before she began working in her field, Ms. Sibberson prepared for her professional path by attending the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 2009, she obtained a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering with a concentration in controls and a minor in psychology. After earning her degree, she pursued graduate studies at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 2016 with a Master of Engineering in power systems engineering. Committed to professional growth and development inside and outside of the classroom, Ms. Sibberson plans to maximize her potential and improve her skills in the future. She also aims to transition to a managerial position, as she is dedicated to teaching her younger coworkers and new engineers in the field how to excel. She acknowledges that learning goes both ways, as she always strives to learn as much as she can from her colleagues.
Ms. Sibberson is a strong advocate for rotational programs, as she believes they provide an excellent opportunity to understand the company’s inner workings. Such programs, she says, bolster the professional networks of participants and broaden their perspectives. By maintaining a modern workforce with diverse experience, Ms. Sibberson notes that the overall function of the organization will improve.
Away from work, Ms. Sibberson stays active as an accomplished competitive springboard and platform diver. She competes at a national level and even participated in her first global event in the summer of 2023 in Japan. Most important, Ms. Sibberson values time with her family, which includes her husband, Scott, and her daughter.