What brought you to Auburn and to your major?
I grew up adoring Auburn as a young sports fan with many family connections to Auburn. However, when I reached the age to begin my college search, I looked broadly for a school that would be the right fit for me and my future aspirations academically, athletically, and professionally. Much to my surprise, Auburn provided the perfect combination. With an excellent engineering program, I knew that I would be challenged academically and prepared for a successful career. I was also offered a preferred walk-on position on the Auburn football team which was a dream come true for my athletic ambitions. This made the choice to attend Auburn an easy one. In choosing a major, I was not as confident. Entering college, I was still considering a medical career, but I knew my interests and abilities aligned well with engineering curricula. I chose chemical engineering, not because I knew what a chemical engineer was, but because I knew there was flexibility to pursue medical school at a later date if I chose to do so. Once the career options became more clear to me, I knew I wanted to be an engineer. I found the work challenging and rewarding, and I liked the fast paced environment that it created. I stumbled into chemical engineering but couldn’t be more happy that I did!
Tell me your story about your path since graduation regarding your career?
After graduation I went to work for Shell based in New Orleans supporting Deepwater Oil and Gas in the Gulf of Mexico. I spent one year office-based supporting process surveillance and small projects for the Mars Tension Leg Platform. I then transitioned to an offshore-based role as an Operations Support Engineer. In that role, I worked on the Perdido Spar nearly 200 miles offshore of Galveston on a 14-day-on/14-day-off schedule. I was providing frontline engineering support to operations at the 100,000 barrels of oil per day facility including troubleshooting of process upsets and equipment failures, championing the management of change process, and owning reliability focused initiatives. After a year and a half offshore, I returned to New Orleans as the Production Chemical Engineer for Perdido where I managed the chemical program for the facility. This role included technical work for well interventions, flow assurance, and separation as well as budgetary responsibility and the management of specialty vendors. I then performed a similar role for the Ursa Tension Leg Platform before transitioning to a Production Engineer role where I am responsible for the integrity, performance, and optimization of deepwater wells along with leading interventions and new well flowbacks.
How did your Auburn engineering education prepare you for what you are doing now?
Auburn engineering was instrumental in preparing me for my career. Although I even held the title “Chemical Engineer”, my role has never been traditional chemical engineering. While the concepts of my course work have been helpful, there have been other elements of my education that were more impactful. Three things stand out to me. First, the problem solving skills I developed through my Auburn education have proven invaluable to being effective in my career. Secondly, teamwork in a technical setting was necessary to be successful at Auburn and even more necessary to be successful in the professional world. Lastly, Auburn stressed the importance of communication to present ideas and solutions, something that is critical in any career. I feel that Auburn does an exceptional job of producing practical and effective professionals.
What advice would you give students at Auburn?
First and foremost, I would advise Auburn students to enjoy their experience at Auburn and soak up every minute of it. College, in general, is a really unique time in your life where you are surrounded by opportunities that can be more difficult to come by later in life. Auburn specifically is brimming with these opportunities and some incredible people that are in a similar stage of life. In a more practical sense, I would advise getting involved in campus organizations that align with your interests. This allows you to meet so many people that you may not otherwise and will allow you to make new friends and grow your network. Relationships are one of the most critical factors for future success and general fulfillment, and involvement is a powerful way to capitalize on the college experience.
What is your favorite Auburn memory or War Eagle moment?
I have more positive Auburn memories than I can count, so picking a favorite is no easy task. However, I think my top Auburn memory was the 2013 football season (at least through the first half of the national championship). I was a sophomore walk-on on the football team that year. Being a part of that team and that season was a surreal experience. After an abysmal freshman season in 2012, it was an incredible experience to be a small part of one of the greatest turnarounds in college football history. And while many people specifically remember the Kick 6 against Alabama and the Prayer at Jordan Hare against Georgia, there were multiple other games that season decided by last minute plays, making the entire experience even more exciting and memorable.t met!