SASE - Stevens Institute of Technology

04/06/2022

For our science spotlight, we asked professor Alex Wellerstein some interesting questions regarding the history of nuclear weapons & his professions!

- Question: What made you interested in studying science history, specifically nuclear history?
- Professor Alex Wellerstein: I first started studying American history in college because it was amazing to me how much there was that I didn’t know, and how important understanding that history seemed to make understanding the United States. (Originally I thought I wanted to be an English major, but after a class of that, I realized it wasn’t for me.) I stumbled across the history of science serendipitously, through a campus job I started my freshman year. In that job, I ended up reading a lot of articles about the history of science, and thought it was pretty interesting — I always liked science, but I was never any good at it, and this was a way to look at science in a totally new way. One of the many topics I got interested in regarding the history of science was the history of the atomic bomb, and I wrote an undergraduate thesis about the connections between my university (UC Berkeley) and nuclear weapons. A few years later, when I decided to get a PhD, I found that I really enjoyed every paper I wrote about nuclear weapons, and took that as a sign that this was what I should be spending my time doing! It has been over 15 years since then and I’ve never really looked back. If nuclear weapons ever bore me, I might move on to something else — there are lots of interesting things in the history of science and technology — but so far that hasn’t happened.

- Question: What fascinates you most about nuclear armageddon and other extinction-level events of that nature?
- Professor Alex Wellerstein: There’s an absurdity to nuclear war that permeates all discussions of it, an absurdity that is something amusing, and sometimes just awful. Amusing: In order to learn about potable water sources after a nuclear war, the US actually tested what happened to beer and sodas if you nuked them, and even did taste tests (beer gets a little stale when exposed to radiation, so they recommend that, after a nuclear war, beer companies should test their stock before putting it back on the market). Awful: American governmental employees working on plans that, by their own estimations, would kill hundreds of millions of people — how can that be anything other than darkly absurd? Nuclear war pushes everything to extremes, and that makes it for me always interesting in an intellectual sense.

- Question: What are some of your favorite sections from your book, Restricted Data?
- Professor Alex Wellerstein: It’s hard to choose favorites; there just a lot in there that I love. There is a section on a private company that essentially tried to commercialize the H-bomb technology as a fusion reactor in the late 1960s/early 1970s that I find really interesting and sometimes darkly funny — at one point, the government threatened to declare their fusion reactor to be legally a nuclear weapon, as a means of trying to discourage them from working on it. I am also quite fond of several sections that are about college students and anti-war activists who decided in the 1970s, for different reasons, that the best way to attack nuclear secrecy was to try to draw, and sometimes publish, their own nuclear weapon designs. And it was taken as a point of pride if you sort of got in trouble with the government for them — because then they felt like they’d done a good job! There’s something very specifically American about that situation, it feels to me. Generally speaking, I like situations where the conflicting requirements of secrecy, security, and freedom of speech/research end up creating cultural “monsters,” like a truck driver who became famous for trying to draw the most detailed diagrams ever of the first atomic bombs used in World War II.

- Question: What was your experience like with NUKEMAP and how did you come to make it?
- Professor Alex Wellerstein: I created NUKEMAP over the course of a weekend in 2012, while I was a postdoctoral fellow working at the American Institute of Physics, near Washington, DC. At the time I had just started blogging and was constantly thinking about “content.” NUKEMAP was the latest version of some code I had been playing with for many years, which I had been using to help me visualize the effects of nuclear weapons based on declassified government equations. I put it on the Internet and it got much more popular than I expected, so I had a real incentive to keep improving and updating it, and to think really seriously about what this kind of tool could do for helping improve public understanding of nuclear weapons.

- Question: What do you enjoy most about your profession (historian, author, programmer, professor)?
- Professor Alex Wellerstein: There are two things I really love about my job. One is that I have a lot of autonomy: I mostly get to spend my time how I want to spend it, thinking about things I think are interesting, working on projects I think are fun and cool. For me that is pretty hard to beat. The other is that I get to teach. While there are aspects of teaching that can be a chore (cough cough grading cough cough), most of the time it is pretty fun: I get to geek out about stuff I find interesting to a bunch of other people who (sometimes) end up geeking out about it as well. It is hard for me to imagine another job that lets me indulge in both of these things I enjoy so much, so I am pretty grateful to have it, especially since professorships like this are pretty rare!

- Question: Given that the world is moving towards a more green future, what specific part in the nuclear industry can we improve on? (i.e pushing for MSRs, having a new form of reactor, etc.)
- Professor Alex Wellerstein: I think the biggest challenge that the nuclear industry is going to have is about gaining the trust of the average citizen. It is not as big of a challenge today as it was 30 years ago; the polls show Americans are about evenly split on the issue of nuclear power, rather than being decidedly against it. But you need well more than a simple majority if it is going to work out. That trust is not going to be built on the basis of technical arguments about the safety of reactors, it is going to be built on people thinking that the nuclear industry is not just about making a buck (and cutting corners in the process). The biggest problem that pro-nuclear advocates have right now, in my experience, is essentially dismissing any skeptical or uncertain views on the subject as just being uninformed. Even if it was as simple as that (and I’m not sure it is), that approach doesn’t gain you converts.

- Question: What's your favorite type of reactor and why?
- Professor Alex Wellerstein: My favorite type of reactor is a well-regulated reactor! I know, that’s not the answer anyone
wants to hear. But I think it’s important to emphasize that whatever the technological choices are made, how they exist within a social framework is going to determine whether they gain acceptance, trust, and ultimately are operated safely. I think attention to these kinds of issues is probably more important in the long-run than any particular reactor design. Even the dreaded RBMKs could be run safely — if you set up a system that prioritizes running them that way. (Of course, there are more and less inherently safe/dangerous designs.) I am aware that regulation increases the costs, and lowers the profit margins, of power plants, but I think that if we are going to adopt them for climate change reasons, we might need to find ways to subsidize them, or make fossil fuel users pay for the long-term costs of climate change, which would have the same effect. Separate from all of that, I do agree that some of the newer designs that are more inherently safe and recycle their own fuel as they operate are very appealing on a technical level.

11/11/2021

Q: You were SASE’s President last year. How was that in a virtual environment?
A: I think it was fine. I’m a little jealous of Serena and everyone right now because they get to organize all the stuff we did when we were underclassmen. But online, especially in the beginning, we tried to do a lot of interesting virtual games that we saw other clubs do. I think from an engineering perspective, it is really interesting because instead of trying to adapt old ideas, we created new ideas that work with the virtual environment better, so I think the games were really interesting.

Q: How was it transitioning and passing the torch to Serena?
A: Serena was our freshman representative two years ago, so I have a pretty good amount of faith in her. I don’t think I did a formal transition with Serena. It was just a couple brief things. Sometimes Yanqing and I feel kind of bad because when something comes up, we ask Serena or we interject about her plans. We start asking her what she’s thinking about doing, so in that way, we’re kind of helicopter parents. But Serena is very confident, so it doesn’t really matter.

Q: What are you doing right now outside of classes?
A: I’m in my fifth year and I finished co-op, so I’m just doing my senior design project and looking for jobs. For clubs, I’m not on any eboards right now. I hear ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) is reviving, so I’m thinking about running for that. When I was a freshman, I went to pretty much all the professional societies. SASE was the most job-oriented one, but ASME was more project-oriented, and as a freshman, I wasn’t very interested in that.

Q: How does it feel being about to graduate?
A: I’m a little nervous about getting a job. I think I have pretty high standards to be honest, so I’m pretty selective. Other than that, I’m mostly just concentrating on school. Senior design is kind of a lot of work. I’m doing my concentration in aerospace and my graduate certificate in robotics and controls. Those classes are really hard sometimes.

Q: So what’s your dream company to work in?
A: I don’t really have a dream company. When I was younger, I used to say Lockheed Martin or something, but I don’t really have a preference now. I’m generally more interested in aviation, but as time goes on, I care less about the end product that the company produces. I think it’s nice to have a cool end product and something you believe in, but to a certain extent, every end product is interesting because there’s validity to it and it has a purpose to the world.

Q: What companies are you looking at?
A: It depends. There is an application for Lockheed right now. A lot of companies have defense sections and space sections and space is particularly speaking to me because I’m doing a NASA senior design project, and I’m talking about space a lot. I’m more aware of Lockheed and Northrop for Orion or Boeing Starliner. Historically speaking, I’ve been more interested in aviation.

Q: What are you doing in the NASA project right now?
A: We’re doing a RASC-AL Project. There’s four themes and we picked one that’s a Mars water-based ISRU. So it locates and mines water using a chemical function. We’re primarily looking at propane and maybe methane as the propellant. Water mining is a mandatory function of it, but it didn’t specifically state that you needed or didn’t need to use the CO2 in the atmosphere. So, we’re leaning towards that. Basically do that, convert it into propellant, and store it for possible refueling to return to earth.

Q: With all of this -- your senior design project with NASA and trying to find full-time employment -- are you going to try to do a Master's or continue working later on?
A: I've always kind of sh***ed on getting your Master’s by doing a five year program because the cost is so high and a lot of companies will give some sort of reimbursement if you do it while working. So, I would like to get my Master's eventually. I want to do a thesis-based Master's, not course based, I think that's a critical statement for me. If I was to do a master's, I want to do my thesis 100%. But being able to choose that depends on the school and the program. When I was a freshman, people were getting their course-based Master’s a lot in four years because Stevens had a loophole. Now, they have a credit cap, so once you exceed a certain amount of credits, they charge you for Master’s tuition. You’d lose your scholarships too. So the goal is to not go over a certain credit amount, or else you would lose your scholarship and become a Master’s student. You could just do that too -- get your Master’s and pay more. Now with Workday, it's even trickier. There's a whole bunch of other stuff that Workday filters out. It's more to the school's benefit, not the students’.

Q: Do you think you're really stressed now compared to previous years?
A: I think my sixth semester was the most stressed I’ve been. Most of the classes I took were really hard and I think I took 19 credits. 19 credits freshman year was not the same as these classes. They need more man hours. It’s actually pretty difficult. I’m a little better now. I would say it’s just a different type of work.

Q: What advice can you give to freshmen who want to be doing something similar to you, going into aviation and robotics?
A: I should preface this. The reason I did robotics is because I think the mechanical engineering program at Stevens gravitates towards robotics heavily. It's kind of from the influence of what all the professors do. I remember my dynamics professors talked about his robotics projects. He is a controls related researcher. So, I'm interested in robotics and controls but I don't necessarily want to make it my primary career. It's kind of a harder industry to get into. It’s a little more niche, a lot less jobs. These aerospace companies have thousands of engineers, so it's kind of easier. I don't want to say it's easy because it’s obviously not. But, in terms of volume, there's a lot more aerospace jobs.
As for advice, don't stress out about little things. I feel like going through school, you care a lot about classes, good grades, or whatever. But everything's luck meets preparation. So if your grades are good enough and you're putting yourself out there, don’t stress out. The one real advice is start cold contacting recruiters. I keep saying to do it, but I never do it. Cold contacting recruiters, like finding and messaging them on LinkedIn, probably has the highest hit rate out of anything. On Stevens handshake, there are recruiters that message you. They'll send out mass messages, and you can tell because all your friends will also get a similar message, but they do it to you so you might as well do it to them. The point is to work off the books. Try to not only go job searching when there's a career fair. If you really want a job you like, you need to take active measures constantly, that's just the nature of it.

Peter Liu
5/5 Mechanical Engineer
2020-21 SASE President

09/30/2021

Q: First off, I wanted to ask about your Instagram shop, Wing Bunny. What made you want to start it?
A: I've always liked making things, and I didn't sell them because I wasn't really confident in the things I made. It was almost like imposter syndrome. I was really worried about things like if I was good enough to sell my products and if people would like them. But when quarantine started, I had a lot more free time. I started making a lot more things to the point where I was like, oh, maybe I should just sell them. I started my Instagram documenting my art journey, just different things I made and experiments I did. I tried resin for a bit and then I started doing more earrings and charms. Eventually, a couple of my friends also started their small businesses, so I was like maybe I should give it a shot. I did and the Sigmas Art Market event really kick-started it. Ashley Chan reached out to me asking if I would be interested in selling at the event, and I did it because it was for a good cause. Portions of the fundraisers would go towards Asian American causes and at that time, it was pretty prevalent, and I really wanted to do something to support what was going on. I’ve been continuing it ever since. I like making things. I think it's a good creative outlet. I feel like as an engineer, all I am doing is design calculations, which I can't put as much creativity into. I get inspired sometimes and then I just go out on a limb, making whatever I want to.

Q: How long does it take you to make them?
A: They don't take too long. It's the fact that I make them in giant batches which is what takes long. For those (referring to a charm we bought), I need to fill with the charms and oil. But I have to treat the cork itself so it doesn't leak. I paint over the cork with three layers of nail polish so it takes 5 to 10 minutes to dry in between each layer. I add Cielo Super Glue and then I do a leak test to make sure that nothing is leaking out, so it sits upside down for a day, usually overnight. I also measure it out to make sure it doesn't lose any weight. It's a lot of quality assurance and checking to make sure that what I'm sending out is good. Every time I send something out, I'm nervous. Because it's handmade, I know everything can't be perfect. It'll break eventually. But I think people who buy from me understand that it's handmade, so it's not something that's mass manufactured. There's a lot of time put into it but because it's handmade, there's always chances for flaws.
I think COVID helped create an opportunity for me to start my small business because I was also living at home, so I didn't have to pay rent, and I was doing co-op remotely from my bedroom. So, I was getting income and there weren't many expenses since I didn't have to pay for rent. I basically put what I would normally pay for rent into my small business as the initial investment. It was really helpful starting then because COVID gave me time and money, essentially.

Q: And it was all done in your room?
A: Yeah. I moved it back to Hoboken now. I share a room with Peter, so it's just my desk and then I don't have anywhere to put my stuff. I put racks on the wall for all my small business stuff. My desk is a mess because I don't have much space to move stuff around. I just keep it on my desk and it keeps backing up. Sometimes I look back and I can't believe it's been almost six months and a lot of growth. I honestly thought it was just a couple of friends buying from me. Initially, it started really well, and so I was like I should keep making things. I think as I kept making more, it got more popular, so it's growing at a steady pace. I kind of like that because I don't want it to explode overnight because I'm a full-time student. My bio says full time engineer, part time artist because engineering is still my number one passion. This is a side thing for extra money for Boba or something. I'm not going to give up engineering. I know where my priorities are.

Q: You mentioned co-op earlier. Why did you decide to start the co-op program?
A: Funny story, when I came in as a freshman, I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. I just wanted to go. I was even considering finishing everything in three or three and a half years and getting out of here as soon as possible. During freshman orientation, there was a group of freshmen behind me and they had their lives planned out. They were talking to each other like oh I want to work for this company, I'm already applying there, and I'm like, dude we literally just started. We're freshmen, this is orientation, we haven't even started classes yet. The other kid was like I'm thinking about doing co-op and I had no idea what co-op was, so I was like alright, that's an interesting program. I saw its potential, but it's five years, so I didn't want to do it. Just in case, I attended the required workshops for it throughout freshman year. Then towards the end of it, I got convinced into doing it because I wanted to make money during my school time. I was having trouble finding work study as a freshman because I didn't really know where to start, so I was like all right, I think I should do the co-op program. It's an extra year, but I thought the experience I get out of it would make up for that. If I worked hard, it’d guarantee that I get a full-time job after graduation or a higher salary based on my experience.
I did my first co-op at Stonefield, which I got through Stevens Co-op Interview Day. After working there, I realized I really like working and the things that I learned there. After that, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, which was water resources specifically. The Student Career Center didn't have any companies that had openings for that position. So, I networked. I asked my SASE Big for his advice and he referred me to someone. That's how I found my second co-op. Honestly, after getting my first experience, it's been a lot of professional development, and I learned a lot about being self-sufficient. I think that's a big reason why I'm a huge advocate for the co-op program, if your major offers it.
Last summer, I worked in New York City at a company called Scan Tech as a civil engineering intern. I loved it. It was my first time working in New York City and I got to travel around by myself and learned how to take the subway, visiting Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. It was very fun. Right now, I'm looking into applying for a full time job. I think my first step is to talk to the people in the companies I worked at before. My second co-op at Michael Baker is the one I would like to pursue the most. But I've also learned that I should keep my options open, so I'm applying to different jobs. I'm going to look at salaries, benefits, and other stuff before I say yes to one company. It's another thing that the co-op program has taught me: to be able to assess all my options. I think because I did co-op, I have the flexibility to choose a company instead of a company choosing me. I believe there will be companies that want me based on my experience. Right now, I'm still applying so I haven't gotten any offers yet, but the hope is I'll have a bunch of companies to choose from and then assess which one is the best one for me. I have my biases because I've worked at certain companies before, but I'm still open to everything.

Q: It must be super hectic because you have to balance all these classes, and then some days, you have to go to work, and then you also have clubs like SASE, CSA. Are you part of any other clubs?
A: Yeah, I'm president of ASCE, the American Society of Civil Engineers, so that's the club I'm mainly focused on this year. That's why I left SASE Eboard. Well, one I wanted to pass the torch, but two, I wanted to focus on ASCE and bonding with the Civil Engineering Department. Also, I'm part of the undergraduate advisory board for the department itself. It's my last year and I really want to contribute to the Civil Engineering Department here at Stevens. The board is a group of students and our job is to advise professors and department higher-ups on what the department can improve on for students. We’ll talk about what we liked or didn't like about the Civil Engineering Department and what kinds of things we wished we had as freshmen for them to look into for the new freshman.

Q: What made you want to take up these leadership roles which SASE and ASCE?
A: When I was a freshman, I was really shy and I didn't really talk to people at SASE events. I came just for the presentation and left, so I never stuck around or talked to people after. There were a couple events where the e-board at that time tried to talk and get to know me, and that made me feel a little more welcomed to the SASE community. Then, election season I got pestered to run for e-board and ran for PR chair my first year. I didn't get it, but then I applied for minor board, and I got Historian. Then after working on e-board the first year, I think I really grew in terms of SASE. I really liked event planning, which is why I really liked being on e-board. But, just working with other people who are also part of and love SASE was really nice. On the external side of it, I went to NERC, my first conference, that year and meeting people from other chapters was really nice. That made me want to stay. Aside from SASE, I was also involved in CPAC, which is the Castle Point Anime Convention. I was on e-board my sophomore year as Vice Chair of Guests and Industry, so I was involved with contacting guests, inviting our panelists and stuff like that. I think both SASE and CPAC have really contributed to my leadership development here at Stevens. I got a bunch of responsibilities being on e-board of the two clubs, and I learned how to manage my own work and manage other people at the same time. I also like working and communicating with them, and that really helps my leadership development to the point where even after I left SASE and CPAC e-board, I felt empty with no clubs to manage and no events to plan. So, I continued in ASCE and that's where I'm putting all my energy. After I decided that I wasn't going to run for SASE e-board, there was like a little hole in my heart though. I needed something there or else I was going to sit there and not do anything.

Q: With all of the things in your room, how do you keep all your plants alive? I can't even keep my cilantro alive.
A: Because I was sharing a room with someone, I figured it would be rude to bring all of my plants back, so I compromised and only brought a couple of them. We have one very small window that barely lets in any sunlight, so I honestly don't know how my plants are surviving. Also, because I'm busy, sometimes I forget to water them. I have a couple of water plants and their water needs to be changed every week or so and sometimes I forget that. I see it dying and I'm like oh no. It's honestly a miracle that they're alive. I went back home this weekend and I had left a couple of plants at home for my sisters to take care of. They died. There's a couple that I specifically left because I knew they would be okay without any care. I have an aloe plant, which is my first plant. She's still alive and doing pretty well because an aloe can survive three months without water. But my other plants that needed a little more care looked really sad and I had to toss them out, so it was a little heartbreaking. I did lose a couple after moving in, but I took mostly my favorites with me, so that I could take care of them.

Q: So to finish it off, what advice would you give to the freshmen?
A: Yeah, I think there's a couple pieces of advice I would give. The first one is to always talk to people. I think you learn a lot when you talk to other people. I'm even learning a lot right now talking to you guys. It'd be very beneficial for freshmen to talk to different people, especially upperclassmen who have been in their positions before. When you talk to someone, they'll probably tell you like, oh I wish I did this, this and this, and you learn from them. They also give you advice, like I've heard a lot of leadership advice from people. Sometimes, I just talked to them and they told me about their experiences and I picked things up from them. The other one would just be you should be okay trying different things in life and not being afraid of messing up. We're at a period where people are trying things and we're still growing, so it's good. Just do it. My last advice is don't compare yourself to others, which is something that I find myself doing. I did it a lot, like this person is doing so much better than me, why are they growing so fast compared to me? Then I started taking care of plants and learning that plants have different growth periods. Some grow a lot faster than others. So, you don't have to compare yourself to others. You can take your time, grow at your own pace.

Yanqing Liang
5/5 Civil Engineer
2021-2022 ASCE President, Past SASE Vice President, PR Chair, and Historian

07/15/2021

‼️ MATCH FOUND ‼️
If you heard that sound that means you need to attend this event! If you didn't, all the more you should join! Come play some valorant, league, and other games with us AND the really cool people from on our discord on July 29 8PM !!😮😮

Discord link in bio

05/12/2021

I hope everyone is doing well with their finals!! This coming Friday, May 14 9PM, we'll be having our final GBM of the semester: Rewind & Unwind with SASE !! 😎😎 Come and join us in zoom and on our discord to chill, study, and send off our seniors 😥😥
Wishing everyone good luck on their finals!!


Zoom: https://stevens.zoom.us/s/91776010318

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/kUz9MsQ

10/12/2020

Proud of our chapter:') Congrats to all the other chapters that also received an Inspire Award!

Congratulations to the 2020 SASE Inspire Award recipients. Learn More about SASE Drexel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sasedrexel Instagram: https://www....

09/01/2020

Our President is nominated in the Role Model Contest🙊👀😤😤
Find Peter Liu’s feature in the photo album below and vote at — bit.ly/sasermc2020 —
(voting ends Sept. 12!)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10157915986928992&type=3

Voting for our annual Role Model Contest is now open! 🗳 We're calling the to support our nominees by casting your vote today! 🏆🖱👉 bit.ly/sasermc2020

04/19/2020

📣 NEW E-BOARD ALERT! 📣
Give a warm welcome to our new executive board for the 2020-21 school year! We look forward to bringing fun events & activities to everyone so stay tuned! 🥳

03/19/2020

You were CSA’s (Chinese Student Association) president last year, and you’re Cultural Chair this year. What’s your favorite thing about the Chinese culture and what keeps you wanting to be involved with the org?
“The main reason why I got involved with CSA is that, as you know, I’m from Texas; I think subconsciously, I was just drawn more to things that felt like home. Even though at home, I had a diverse group of friends of different cultures, I was really attracted to Chinese culture, which was offered here through CSA. I was lucky enough to really find people who I became friends with and shared the same interests with me, and honestly that’s what's been keeping me in the club. It’s nice to surround myself with people who I could relate to about things like being raised by Asian parents and having similar experiences growing up. That’s something I really liked.
My favorite thing about Chinese culture is that everything aims to symbolize good fortune and luck. Like there’s so many stories of demons and ghosts, but the end goal is that everything people do is to wish luck and bring good fortune to others. I really like that. You see this all around good vibes all the time-- especially during Chinese New Year. Everything my family does around this time is to enjoy the day. We have a tradition where we clean everything before Chinese New Year so that on the day of, we can just focus on having fun and spending quality time with the people around you.”

What made you decide to leave Texas and come to Hoboken?
“I really wanted to go to a new area and have a clean slate. It’s not that I had a terrible past or I’m a murderer or anything.. It’s just that I felt like most of my high school friends stayed in state. I wanted to go somewhere new where no one knew me and give me time to learn about myself and grow. It sucks that I don’t get to see my family a lot, but being away from them has allowed me to learn new things about myself and grow on my own. I’ve had pretty overbearing parents… in high school, I had to do with either one parent or the other and never really had time to go out and be social. To know that I’m able to be away from that lifestyle now has really given me the freedom and opportunity to do what I want to do with my life rather than what they want; it’s really great and played a big part in me learning more about myself, which is the big reason why I came here and away from Texas. I’m still figuring myself out, and something that I’ve learned being here. It’s okay to not know exactly who you are. It’s part of a journey and I’m glad to have made the decision to be on that journey. I know that it’s not for everyone, but I think it’s also a great thing for people to step out of their comfort zones every once in a while to learn about themselves.”

What’s the biggest difference between the lifestyle here and where you’re from?
“The biggest difference is the difference of being in the suburbs and being next to the city. It’s definitely a faster pace and it’s what I like about being here. There’s also a higher level of stress that comes with it, but I like being busy. I like being near where the buzz is and having things happen around me all the time. That way, I’m never bored and I’ll always have something to do. It’s also a matter of new experiences for me to explore, rather than being at home surrounded by the same things all the time.”

How was your experience at NERC?
“It was good! This NERC for me, personally, was very lax because I didn’t really need anything coming out of it. I wanted to go for the experience. I’m still looking for a job, but I knew with the limited variety of companies, that I wasn’t really going to get an opportunity that I wanted. Everything that I did there was more because of my interests, like “this seems fun to me” or “this looks interesting” rather than to do it because of a reason other than myself. “

Which field of Chemical Engineering are you most interested in?
“Based on what I’ve done, I’ve been looking more into Research & Development, formulations, especially for makeup because that’s something I’m very interested in and passionate about. But yeah, as of right now, I’m still exploring. I’ve applied to a few Packaging Engineering ones to see if they stick, but we’ll see.“

How’s Unity doing? [Editor’s note: RIP Unity 2020]
“Unity is doing good. It’s a learning experience every year. I was a side character in Unity freshman year, then sophomore year after I had been elected president, I helped out with some of the things. Last year was the first year where I became super involved and planned rehearsals and this year I’m doing it again. It’s always an experience because obviously everyone wants to win, but it’s also mainly just about engaging freshmen. I’m pushing them, but more so to get them out of their comfort zone rather than expecting them to be a perfect performer. Not everyone is good at acting or being on stage. My goal is not for them to be the next best actor, but rather for them to really learn something from being uncomfortable, in hopes that it will help them develop confidence and engage with us more.”

Fun fact: “During my sophomore year of high school, I participated in the Miss Teen Houston pageant. It’s one of those things where I did it, and it’s fun to talk about.. But I’ll never show you any pictures from it.” ;)

Sophia Hua, 4/4 Chemical Engineer, 2019-20 CSA Cultural Chair, former CSA President