This Panel of SSOE Young Alumni will share their experiences here at the Swanson School of Engineering. They will talk about how to develop a global mindset and how that mindset has impacted their resilience, future plans, and general outlook. They also have some advice to pass on to the next group of rising engineers. First years: bring your questions and get ready to learn from them!
First years: look for the zoom link in your email from Jill Harvey, Director, First Year Engineering program.
Here is a bit more about our panel:
Danielle Klein graduated from Pitt’s mechanical engineering program in the spring of 2019 and is now finishing up her Master’s part-time in the same department. In August 2020, she also began working as a test engineer at Westinghouse Electric Co. developing heat transfer technology for small-scale nuclear reactors. Danielle is a very proud SSOE study abroad alum and a former peer advisor. She spent the spring 2018 semester in Hamburg, Germany improving her Sprachkenntnisse (language skills) and learning about finite element analysis, vibrations, energy systems, and aircraft design. When she returned, she joined the wonderful folks in the international programs office as a peer advisor and still loves to talk to students about their study abroad goals.
Kiara Lee graduated from Pitt in 2018 and is a 3rd year PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Brown University. She also started a Master's in Global Public Health this fall. Kiara is originally from Northern Virginia and went to Pitt for her B.S. in Bioengineering. At Brown Kiara's research is a combination of women's health, global health, and low-cost diagnostics. More specifically she studies low-cost microfluidic devices to be used for genetic analyses for various conditions.
Adam VanGorder graduated in 2017 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. While at Pitt, he participated in a short-term study abroad program in Peru and a semester exchange in Brazil. After graduation, he moved to DC where he worked in Deloitte's government and public sector practice. While there, he participated in a social entrepreneurship fellowship that took him to Phnom Penh, Cambodia where he worked with an INGO that worked against human trafficking and modern slavery. In Fall 2020, he has just begun his Master's degree in International Affairs at Penn State, where he will be focusing on International Sustainable Energy Policy and Data Analytics.