Freshman Student Spotlight: McKenzie Lavelle

McKenzie Lavelle is a freshman in mechanical science and engineering from Owasso, Okla. Lavelle is a member of the Society of Women Engineers, where she is part of a project team developing a solar generator for developing countries in Africa. And eventually, throughout the course of her four years at Illinois, she hopes to get involved with the solar-cell research on campus.

Prior to arriving at Illinois, McKenzie attended the Oklahoma Math and Science Academy. She resides in the Women in Math, Science and Engineering living-learning community at Florida Residence Hall and is president of the hall’s funding board. She also belongs to the association of mechanical engineers and the horticulture club.

Being from Oklahoma, what drew you to Illinois?

“My state school, Oklahoma State University, was my other choice. My dream school was Illinois. As a mechanical engineer, it’s fifth in the nation; it’s an amazing engineering school. But it’s out of state, so I never thought that I would be able to pay the $48,000 to come here. But I got the Engineering Visionary Scholarship, which is a full ride with room, board, tuition and is the only reason I could come here. I was floored…The scholarship made the dream of coming back to Illinois a reality.”

Why mechanical engineering?

“I’ve always kind of been an engineer, according to my mom. From a very young age, I was taking things apart that I shouldn’t have been taking apart and I’m the handy person of my house.  I was always the one who built the bookshelves and hung stuff. I really like problem solving. When there’s a problem, I fix it. I didn’t even realize until senior year of high school that that’s what I really wanted to do because I started out from a very young age, wanting to be an architect. Then I realized that there were other things out there. I just like building everything and with a mechanical engineering degree I could go do architectural stuff or I could work with cupcake manufacturing because you can do anything with mechanical engineering. I liked the broadness of it.

What is the best piece of advice you received before coming to Illinois?

I think the best piece of advice is learn the bus system. My mom has told me (and I haven't exactly listened 100%)  was to not over-extend yourself. 

You took Renaissance Engineering, an Illinois Engineering First Year Experience (IEFX) class, in the fall. What was that experience like?

“It’s about becoming a more well-rounded engineer as in the Renaissance man--someone who can apply engineering to almost anything. I did engineering and horticulture. I bought a whole bunch of plants and compared how horticulture and plant farms and manufacturing can apply to solar cells. I did the effects of different environmental things on plants and tried to find if that would make solar cells more efficient. The class was all about making connections between things that wouldn’t normally be connected to engineering.

Favorite place on campus?

“I’m going to have to say even though I’ve only had one class in it, I really like the Mechanical Engineering Lab. It’s kind of like the little haven for mechanical engineers. We kind of hide in there and do homework.

Do you have an idea of what you would like to do after graduation?

I think I want to do something with energy, like wind, solar or natural gas, which is very broad in itself but I have four years to figure it out. ... That’s very, very general, I could change my mind. I’ve been interested in that since seventh grade actually, but again, I didn’t really realize it.
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If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Mike Koon, writer/editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-1256.