Degree: BS Chemical Engineering, Traditional Track
Graduation Year: Spring 2024
I chose chemical engineering at UMBC because I really enjoyed my chemistry classes in high school and was interested in a career in engineering. I was impressed by UMBC’s small class sizes, variety of opportunities, and community feel within the department.
I had so many great experiences within CBEE over my 4 years! My favorite memory was getting to help plan, host, attend, and compete in the 2024 AIChE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference. Getting to work with my peers over the course of two years to plan the event, and seeing their efforts pay off was immensely rewarding. It was also great to network with other chemical engineering students across the region, compete (and win) the ChemE Jeopardy competition, and show off to other students what makes UMBC great! Even now two years after the event, when I meet graduated students from other schools in the region who were able to attend, they compliment the event and say it was a rewarding experience for them as well!
As a process engineer at Honeywell LNG, I work to design LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) plants and liquefaction heat exchangers for clients around the world! Every day I use chemical engineering principles from pretty much every CBEE course at UMBC. I often describe my job as my senior year capstone course come to life. It truly feels like the culmination of everything I learned during my undergraduate education. Every day I use programs such as ASPEN, perform thermodynamic calculations, use heat transfer principles to design equipment, and more!
My advice for future chemical engineering students at UMBC is to get involved in the department! There are so many opportunities to get involved, make connections, and enhance your college experience. Whether it is being a teaching fellow, participating in undergraduate research, getting involved in organizations like AIChE, or just hanging out in ENG 335, I definitely recommend taking advantages of the opportunities the department has to offer. Aside from the personal/professional growth these opportunities afford, they also will help to strengthen your resume which makes getting internships/jobs much easier.
I also took advantage of some of the other programs UMBC had to offer such as the career center and academic success center. I was able to work as a subject tutor at the academic success center for 3 semesters, which strengthened my teaching, mentorship, and leadership skills.