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hat brought you to Auburn and to major in chemical engineering?
I went to Auburn for a campus visit with my parents. One evening we were wandering the halls of Wilmore, the chemical engineering labs, peering through the windows at the unit ops lab distillation columns and equipment. A professor caught us on his way home for the day. He stopped and took fifteen minutes to let us in the labs and gave us a tour. I decided I wanted to live and learn in a place where people were so kind and helpful.
Tell me your story about your path since graduation regarding your career?
I did a co-op while at Auburn and knew I’d need some more time before starting a career. I went to Texas A&M for a master’s in chemical engineering and some wandering time out west. From there I took a job with Chevron in Houston. Almost a year later they sent me to the Gulf of Mexico to support their deepwater operations. Since then, I’ve worked several different technical assignments focused on subsea infrastructure and ultra-deepwater wells. Now I rotate offshore supervising production operations on Chevron’s largest deepwater asset in the gulf.
How did your Auburn engineering education prepare you for what you are doing now?
Most of my career to this point has been technical, my professors at Auburn gave me three things: a sense of curiosity and life-long learning, a logical frame-work for solving problems, a technical foundation to build on.
What advice would you give [your major] students at Auburn?
Engineers are set apart and compensated for our ability to solve difficult technical problems. There’s a temptation to say, “I’ll never use this.” Don’t ever neglect sharpening your technical skills, the person that sees problems clearly, communicates simply, works well with others, and is technically competent is going to go far.
What is your favorite Auburn memory or War Eagle moment?
There’s so many. From late night longboarding sessions down Thach freshman year, to learning how to function as a team in our senior design project. I typically wear an Auburn tee-shirt when I fly. Every “War Eagle” I hear shouted across a terminal reminds me of my time at Auburn and how that experience is shared with so many others in the Auburn family.