Undergraduate Christy Nguyen Speaks at Annual Shell Visit

ChE third-year Christy Nguyen was one of two undergraduate students selected to speak at Shell Oil Company’s recent annual campus visit hosted at the university’s Stark Center.

Shell, a global group of energy and petrochemicals companies, is a long-time partner of The University of Texas at Austin and particularly the Cockrell School of Engineering.

Since 1975, the company has invested nearly $10M in engineering initiatives, helped provide equipment and facilities, and created valuable opportunities for students like Christy.

Christy is a Shell Technical Scholarship recipient and a former intern who is looking forward to interning with the company again next summer.

“I initially interned at Shell’s Deer Park Refinery in the Process Automation, Control & Optimization department working on various projects, such as updating the site’s instrumentation and renovating a fire sprinkler system,” said Christy. “I was really able to connect what I learned in class to what’s out in the field.”

After her summer internship, Shell asked Christy to return during her winter break. She helped negotiate a service agreement for the refinery site’s flares, and compiled data on the frequency and causes of downtime in different units.

“Everyone was very supportive and I learned a lot,” said Christy. “I was also able to see results from my summer work, and it was rewarding to see that I contributed to the plant’s safety goals and bottom line.”

When Christy returns to Shell this summer she will be interning with the company’s deep-water wells group.

“I am so thankful for the opportunities Shell has given me,” she said. “Shell’s Technical Scholarship has enabled me to live on campus, which has allowed me to immerse myself in my studies and the university’s culture. I’m not sure what my college experience would have looked like without Shell’s support, but I know it wouldn’t have been as diverse or enriching.”

At their annual campus visit, Shell presented a check for nearly $5M to represent the company’s investment in UT Austin for 2015.  While the majority of funding supports cutting-edge research, about $355,000 goes to supporting student activities and programs and $95,000 goes towards scholarships.

See photos from Shell’s Annual Campus Visit online.

 

Tags: chemical engineering, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Shell, Texas, UT Austin