The Class of 2015: Where are they headed?
Congratulations to the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering Class of 2015! 118 undergraduate and graduate students walked across the stage earning their diplomas on May 22, following the 68 students who completed their degrees earlier in the academic year during fall 2014 commencement ceremonies. After a college career full of successes and accomplishments, these graduates are headed all over the world to put their degrees to the test. Here are the college experiences of four Texas ChE graduates and their plans for the future.
Sai Gourisankar
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas. 
Q: Tell us about your time here, how did you get involved at UT?
At UT, I was involved with Omega Chi Epsilon (OXE), the chemical engineering honors society, and the Society of Plan II Engineers (SP2E), an organization that tries to bridge the gap between humanities and the sciences.
I also am part of Texas 4000 for Cancer, a 4,500-mile bicycle charity ride from Austin to Alaska. As a rider, sponsorship coordinator, and program speaker, I helped our team raise more than $600,000 for cancer research, present cancer awareness presentations to various communities, and volunteer many hours at local cancer charities. From May to August 2015, I’ll be on the road, cycling to Anchorage, AK with my team: spreading awareness and raising more funds across the continent. (Read Sai’s Texas 4000 Journal)
Q: What are your plans for after graduation?
I’ll be attending graduate school in applied mathematics (first year) and global history (second year) at Oxford University in Oxford, England as a Rhodes Scholar for two years, after which I plan to pursue a Ph.D. at Stanford in chemical engineering. I hope to use mathematical models, physics and chemical engineering to develop better materials for biomedical applications. I want to make sure whatever device or material I help engineer remains relevant to the non-technical person in need.
Q: What was your most memorable moment at UT?
I recall meeting Dr. McKetta for the first time as a freshman at the McKetta Picnic: I found it remarkable that a professor would keep in such close touch with his students – such as calling them for birthdays – even 20, 30 years after teaching them.
Q: What was your most challenging ChE project or assignment and what did you learn from it?
Plant design was by far the most challenging assignment I’ve had. Our team had to concurrently troubleshoot technical challenges, write ~100 pages, and learn new ChE concepts. This course taught me how to effectively split up large projects into smaller, achievable goals.
Teresa Wu
Hometown: The Woodlands, Texas
Q: Tell us about your time here, how did you get involved at UT?
I was very involved with OXE, Tau Beta Pi (TBP) national engineering honor society, and the AIChE student chapter while at UT. These organizations were a great way to meet new friends! I held officer positions in both OXE and TBP, which allowed me to work on my leadership skills as well. One of my most fond memories was competing in the BASF Team Chemistry Challenge with two other chemical engineering students and a petroleum engineering student. Together, we were able to come together to think of an innovative way to improve UT Athletics events and we won first place!
Q: What are your plans after graduation?
I will be working for ConocoPhillips in Houston, Texas as a reservoir engineer in the Permian Basin.
Q: What will you miss most about The McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering?
I am going to miss the community the most. The McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at UT is a very close community, which is something I really appreciated. I always felt comfortable approaching faculty, staff and my peers about any issues.
Q: Why would you encourage incoming freshmen to choose chemical engineering?
Chemical engineering is a very diverse major that allows you to explore many different industrial or academic fields. This gives you the freedom to explore different fields to find the one that you are most passionate about.
James Conger
Hometown: Newport Beach, Calif.
Q: Tell us about your time here, how did you get involved at UT?
I was involved with AIChE all four years, and with the Student Engineering Council (SEC) from 2013-2015. I served as SEC representative and president for AIChE and was a service co-director for SEC from 2014-2015. I helped plan the AIChE Southwest Student Regional Conference in 2015, which hosted 200 undergraduates. I also helped restart a university-wide canned food drive, the Halloween Canned Food Drive, and organized a group who started the SEC High School Design Competition.
Q: What are your plans for after graduation?
I am considering positions in the energy sector.
Q: What was your most memorable moment at UT?
I actually have two favorite memories that are hard to choose between. The first is when I first met Dr. McKetta at the McKetta Picnic in fall 2011. He has partially remembered me as the “Greek Boy” since then. The other was during my last semester, when a few friends and I went to Galveston together to celebrate finishing our classes. It was an unforgettable few days and one of the last times we were all together as undergrads.
Q: What was your most challenging ChE project or assignment and what did you learn from it?
The most challenging assignment was definitely our ChE 473K Plant Design project. Working with two others for an entire semester helped me understand the complexities of a true group project. The other group projects I had worked on until then were only a few weeks long, so spending 12 weeks on an assignment was eye opening. I also learned a great deal about others’ working habits and how to effectively overcome differences in styles and preferences.
Chelsea Clark
Hometown: Missouri City, Texas
Q: Tell us about your time here, how did you get involved at UT?
For the first three years of school I was heavily involved with the National Society of Black Engineers. My junior year, I served as the Academic Excellence Chair. My goal was to increase the GPA of the chapter as a whole and teach practices which promote academic success. I was also involved with AIChE, OXE and Theta Tau during my time at UT as well as participating in the Longhorn Concert Band as a euphonium player. Through these organizations I played intramural basketball and flag football almost every semester. For three years, I worked in Dr. Lydia Contreras‘ RNA and Protein Engineering Lab, and through that experience I gained enough knowledge to receive a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to fund my graduate studies.
Q: What are your plans for after graduation?
I am currently working at Shell Technology Center Houston in the Chemicals Process Development R&D group. In late August, I will begin a Ph.D. program in chemical engineering at Rice University in the hopes of studying catalysis as it relates to the energy industry.
Q: What will you miss most about The McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering?
I think I will miss my friends and all of the rest of the friendly faces in the department the most. No matter what kind of day I was having, there was always a staff member or faculty member who would take the time out of their day to say hello or good morning or help me with any problem I had.
Q: Why would you encourage incoming freshmen to choose chemical engineering?
I would encourage incoming freshmen to choose chemical engineering because of the amount of options that a degree such as ours offers. When I applied to UT, I came here in the hopes of doing polymers/materials science work for Dr. Chris Ellison. After sitting in ChE 102 and hearing Dr. Contreras speak about her work in RNA and Protein Engineering, I decided to try something different. I ended up doing bacterial research work in her lab for three years; something I never thought would happen since I hated biology in high school. My two internships were both in the energy industry, one for ExxonMobil and the other for Shell. And now I am going to grad school to study catalysis. All of this is within chemical engineering. So I would say that this major is one of the best because it can be applied to such a vast variety of problems. Pursuing chemical engineering teaches you how to think and analyze problems, but those problem solving skills can be applied anywhere.
Tags: AIChE, chemical engineering, Class of 2015, Cockrell School of Engineering, ConocoPhillips, Dr. John McKetta, energy, graduation, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, oil and gas, OXE, R&D, reservoir engineer, Rice University, Shell Technology Center, Society of Plan II Engineers, Texas, Texas 4000, The University of Texas Austin