In the past year, the honors experience that has had the most impact on my personal, academic, and professional goals and life trajectory was the Energy, Environment, and Society honors seminar. I learned about various aspects of the global energy crisis and how it relates to climate change, the economy, geopolitics, and more. The course informed my career path as a chemical engineering student by preparing me to incorporate sustainability into my work to make a meaningful difference for the world in my full-time career. In addition to the sustainability factor, this course also stressed the importance of considering the human impact my work – when most engineering projects are aimed at lowering a company’s bottom line, I will also look for specific ways to improve the lives of those around me at the same time.

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While most of my projects so far in my co-op experiences have been small-scale and limited in scope, I hope to incorporate sustainability and an environmental perspective in all of my work as an engineer moving forward. I have that opportunity in my current role as an R&D co-op at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, where I’m supporting various process improvements that will make diaper manufacturing in North America more efficient by producing less scrap, which increases the overall sustainability of the process. With a global product like diapers, even small reductions to the scrap produced translate to thousands of pounds of material that won’t be wasted and discarded into the environment. I hope to carry this kind of perspective into my full-time career at P&G or elsewhere! Many chemical engineering students choose to work in oil & gas or other process industries because the opportunities are plentiful and the pay is good, but will this be the best application of my knowledge and efforts? Instead, should I pursue further education to research technologies that will help humanity attain a sustainable future, or engage in something else entirely? I have a challenging decision ahead, but in any case, this course has helped me solidify that I would like to apply my skills to work toward a more sustainable future for the planet.

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Regarding future experiences beyond the Energy, Environment, and Society honors seminar, the most immediate is the study tour travel portion of the course that wasn’t available when I initially completed the course last summer. Thankfully, I’ll be able to join the next class on their trip to Scotland to see the country’s extensive wind-powered electric infrastructure that may serve as a model for a future version of our own country. Seeing a country that has attained some level of sustainable industry and power distribution will give valuable insight into how the rest of the world may achieve this – and how I may contribute to this development in my career as an engineer. Successfully completing this study tour and reflecting on my experience is one academic goal for the upcoming year. Another will be completing the ‘Solar Power in Africa’ chemical engineering elective in the Spring semester, which will provide yet another angle on the vast possibilities that the planet has to improve to transition away from traditional fossil fuel sources and move toward a more sustainable future. I’m looking forward to expanding on the growth that the Energy, Environment, and Society course offered me and carrying these learnings into my final year at UC and into the next chapters of my life!