Colleen's Home Page

Willkommen!

I'm the one in the shades, standing next to Ruth (my best friend),
who's holding her son, Nicholas. Golden Gate Bridge. September 6, 2001.

My Major: Chemical Engineering -- BioProcess Engineering Focus

What a pain in the butt this major is! Tell you what...if I knew when I was a freshman what I know now, I'd have taken up Electrical Engineering. Who'd have guessed that when I graduate in May of this year, I will have learned enough chemistry to be dangerous. They should have called this major "Fluid-flow and Heat Transfer Engineering." Honestly.

Well, thank heaven that I came through Penn State when Biotechnology is taking off, and a new option in the Chemical Engineering department opened up. Yep, I jetted into the new BioProcess Engineering Option faster than you could say "tray spacing." The opportunities in the Biotechnology field abound and (thank all things holy) have little to do with distillation towers and smelly old refineries. I had the pleasure of working in the BioTechnology Pilot Plant at Penn State for an entire semester, growing E. coli and purifying protiens. Many companies are doing the same today...searching for the most efficient process for producing and purifying proteins that can do things from making beer glow, to signaling the brain to stop storing fat.

So, what does a BioProcess Engineer do? Just look at all the options!

Be commissioned a 2nd Lt in the the Air Force & work as a Project Engineer (That's what I'm doing!!)
Work for any pharmaceutical company, like Merck (R&D, sales, production)
Work in the food industry for Kraft , Hershey , etc.
BASF -- you know, make things better!!
Of course, you could always go to Grad School
Penn State will help with the job search

There are some professional societies for Chemical Engineers and Students of Chemical Engineering alike. The most popular one in America is:

American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE

Now is when I should mention that I'm also getting my degree in German this May.

My 2nd Major: German

It's called a "dual-degree" program. That's fancy for "it'll take you 7 years to graduate, fool." The program's available to any student in engineering wishing to add a language (and 3 years) to their studies. Still, joining this program was the best idea I ever had. Not only did I get to do a study abroad in sunny Kiel, Germany, but now I've got this language skill that I never dreamed I'd master. I'll get extra "language-pay" in the Air Force and can market myself as bilingual to the 3 biggest chemical engineering companies in the world. (They are based in Germany!)

Want to see my Resume?

This page was created by Colleen Shipman.

You can email me at: cms259@psu.edu

Colleen's Home Page Willkommen!

My Major: Chemical Engineering -- BioProcess Engineering Focus

My 2nd Major: German

Colleen's Home Page

Willkommen!