Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
What led you to choose Georgia Tech for your studies?
Once I decided that I wanted to study chemical engineering, I applied to Georgia Tech on a whim due to its high ranking. It was the furthest college that I applied to, so I hadn't initially given it much thought. Once I got in early and started going on virtual tours and admitted student webinars, I began falling in love with the school. I took a tour and once I stepped on campus, I knew it was the school for me! Every student was so welcoming and nice, and throughout both the in person and online events, it became very apparent to me how much everyone on campus values education and community.
How did you choose the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Major?
Chemistry and calculus were my 2 favorite subjects in high school, so I knew I wanted to go into something related to those interests, but I wasn't 100% sure which job avenue I wanted to go down yet. Majoring in chemical engineering allowed me to eventually apply my degree to many different fields, which gave me the flexibility for my post-graduation plans to change as my interests did!
What will you be doing after graduation?
I will be working for General Mills at their Murfreesboro, Tennessee — a suburb of Nashville — plant as a Food Safety and Quality associate. This is an 18-month program where I will have one rotation where I'll be working on ensuring safe plant operations, one where I will be doing quality assurance for the plant, and another where I will get the opportunity to either be a maintenance or operator shift lead.
Did internships/co-ops help prepare you for this experience?
My internship and co-ops did help me prepare for this experience. I was a research intern at Georgia Tech Research Institute where I worked on quantum dot synthesis, was a Global Technical Operations co-op at Johnson & Johnson, and was a Health, Safety, and Environmental Co-op at Clorox. While these roles were all corporate roles and thus very different from my upcoming manufacturing role, they all showed me different avenues that you could take with a chemical engineering degree and gave me such good communication and networking skills that I can't wait to apply in my next role, particularly for my leadership rotation.
Did you participate in undergraduate research during your studies? If so, in whose lab and what did you work on?
I did! I was in Associate Professor Vida Jamali's Lab for two semesters and worked on synthesizing gold nanoparticles to be used for biological sensing and machine learning applications.
You’ve served as a student mentor at Tech. What did that role involve and what did you get out of it?
I served as a PLUS (Tech's free group tutoring for a plethora of 1-2000 level classes) mentor at Tech, which involved hosting and coordinating small group sessions with other PLUS leaders, handling the logistics of my mentees’ sessions, and attending weekly meetings with the PLUS coordinator in addition to hosting my weekly sessions. This was one of the most rewarding things I did at Tech. It was so fulfilling when mentees asked for and implemented my advice, then next week they'd come to group meetings and say that my suggestion worked great! It also gave me a lot of time management, communication, and coordination skills that I have applied long after being a mentor. Lastly, one of the best things was seeing some of the students I mentored go on to become mentors later on in their educational career!
What kind of extracurricular activities did you participate in at Tech?
I was involved in Greek Life, was a member of Georgia Tech Swim Club, and was a student ambassador for the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
How did your educational experience at Georgia Tech help you to achieve your goals?
Georgia Tech gives students so many resources to be successful. In my earlier classes, I attended all group tutoring sessions that were available to me. When I started getting into my core chemical engineering classes, I attended any optional review or problem-solving sessions that were offered by professors and attended office hours. Attending these various help sessions helped solidify concepts and clear up any gaps in the material I had early on, added rigidity into my schedule which further helped with time management, and made me much more confident to ask questions, which has helped me in both my classes and work experiences! I also was sure to make friends in my classes to study with, which helped me get (and also give) lots of valuable career advice, which eventually led me to my job at General Mills.
What advice would you give to new students pursuing Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering?
This may be a challenging major, but it's a lot more challenging when you go through it alone! Be sure to form meaningful connections anywhere you go. I also encourage any new student to take advantage of all opportunities offered by Georgia Tech. Use all the educational support systems available, go to all the free sporting events you can, take advantage of the great offerings of the career center, and get involved on campus!
Is there anything else you’d like to add about your experiences related to your education?
Choosing to be a chemical engineer at Georgia Tech is undoubtedly the best decision I have ever made in my life. Even though it was overwhelming at times, I think the thing that helped me most was keeping a positive attitude and always remembering that everything is going to be okay. Everyone at this school is capable of doing great things, and if you believe that great things will happen regarding your education, then they will!