Rachel Long小蝌蚪APP檚 love for chemistry started in high school when she quickly realized she wanted a career in the field.
小蝌蚪APP淚 knew, whatever I did, I wanted it to involve chemistry because it小蝌蚪APP檚 challenging, it小蝌蚪APP檚 something interesting, it小蝌蚪APP檚 something that you can continue learning about constantly and barely scratch the surface,小蝌蚪APP she said.
With a little push from her parents and mechanical engineer brother, Rachel decided to try the chemical engineering major.
小蝌蚪APP淚 was thinking, 小蝌蚪APP業'll try it for a year, and then maybe I'll go into chemistry and just do research or something,小蝌蚪APP櫺◎蝌紸PP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淎nd I did one year of it, and I realized with chemical engineering, you have so many different fields that you can be involved in.
小蝌蚪APP淚t has a lot of problem-solving aspects to it, and it's really challenging, which is why I've stuck with it,小蝌蚪APP she said.
Renewable Energy Careers with Chemical Engineering
As a senior, Rachel has explored the career fields available for a chemical engineering major.
小蝌蚪APP淎t this point, I would really like to go into the environmental side of it, possibly renewable energy,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淚 think it's a field that's the future and what we're going to be using primarily in the future, or at least competitively with oil and gas. So, I think it'd be really cool to be involved in that field.小蝌蚪APP
She decided on this career path because of classes she小蝌蚪APP檚 taken, like CHEE 440: Renewable Energy.
小蝌蚪APP淚t was super interesting to see a chemical engineering perspective on renewable energy,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淕enerally, you hear about solar energy and wind energy. So, to hear about making biofuels and biogas and seeing how the research is being done right now 小蝌蚪APP it's not stuff that they're thinking about, it's not stuff that people have already figured out, it's stuff that 小蝌蚪APP right now 小蝌蚪APP is ongoing.小蝌蚪APP
Relevant & Hands-On Engineering Internships
Other classes have been important to Rachel's future career, as well. One of her internships was with Citgo, and it required a lot of the information she learned in CHEE 405: Heat Transfer.
小蝌蚪APP淥ne of the projects they had me do was monitor the heat exchangers fouling over time. I used fundamentals from that class directly in that project,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淚t's one of the classes you directly apply to real-life engineering. It's past the basics and going on to more real-world applications.小蝌蚪APP
She also learned a lot from her internship that helped in her classes.
小蝌蚪APP淚 got to see the turnarounds, which are where they shut down part of the refinery, and they do routine maintenance, inspection, and make sure everything's up to code. At that point, if any equipment needs to be replaced, they replaced it,小蝌蚪APP she said.
小蝌蚪APP淚 got to see the inside of a lot of equipment, and that really helped me learn a lot about what we're studying in class and what it actually looks like.小蝌蚪APP
Developing a Chem-E-Car
Rachel is also staying active on campus. She is a member of the , and she participates in extracurricular opportunities that will prepare her to work in the chemical engineering industry.
小蝌蚪APP淚 worked on Chem-E-Car,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淲e get together, and we build a shoebox-sized car that starts and stops from a chemical reaction.小蝌蚪APP
小蝌蚪APP淲e take it to a competition where we compete against other universities that have researched and built their own shoebox-sized car. At that competition, they'll give you a specific distance that your car needs to go. You have a one-hour time limit to get your car ready. Then you have to get your car to stop as close to that line as possible.
小蝌蚪APP淚 worked on it for two and a half years,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淚t was a really great experience because while you're learning things in class, you can directly apply it, and you get that hands-on experience."
"That's what really solidified that this is what I want to do. Chemical engineering is where I want to be.小蝌蚪APP
