PODCAST: Engineering Is A Puzzle

 

Something of a celebrity on the engineering campus, Eliza joins Maddie to talk goal setting, internships, and representation in STEM.
Can’t get enough?
Check out Eliza and Maddie’s work on the MEP Scoop, Fridays at 4.
And follow us on social media @uofigrainger

 

Transcript

Maddie Rice  
Welcome to engineering is blank, a Grainger College of Engineering network podcast where we get to the root of STEM with our engineering students. I'm your host Maddie Rice and today, guys, I'm joined by a real celebrity here on campus. Eliza Wright. How are you?

Eliza Wright  
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. 

Maddie Rice  
I'm so excited you're here, Eliza. So why don't you start by giving us just a little bit of a really basic intro like your name your major and any like titles you hold here on campus.

Eliza Wright  
So as you mentioned, I'm Eliza Wright. I'm a senior studying Nuclear,  Plasma,  and Radiological Engineering. On Campus I'm the president of NSBE or the National Society of Black Engineers. I also sit as The Knights of St. Patrick, Director for engineering Council. Yeah.

Maddie Rice  
That sounds like a really nice rap sheet you got going there.  Your resume probably like glows in the dark.

Eliza Wright  
It does is it truly does.

Maddie Rice  
Great. So you're a senior Mm hmm. And how are you feeling about that whole complex?

Eliza Wright  
I'm pretty excited actually.

Maddie Rice  
Excited to be done are excited for all the things that senior year has in store.

Eliza Wright  
Mostly, I would say both. Actually. I'm really excited just to kind of walk into second semester feeling like we own the campus again. Relax, we have our job offer officially so just kind of excited to graduate and then start being a real adult. 

Maddie Rice  
You're excited to be a real adult? 

Eliza Wright  
 I am. I'm so excited. 

Maddie Rice  
You're a little in the minority. I feel like most people ask about that. They don't. I mean, they're not extremely enthusiastic about leaving.

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, I FaceTime my parents pretty often with all questions, I set my oven on fire before but other than that, I feel like we're pretty prepared. 

Maddie Rice  
Wow, very cool. So Eliza what is like a typical day in the life like for you because you mentioned a lot. Yeah. Is all of us something new every day or is it all spread out?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, it's a good mix of everything. Obviously classwork and that's the whole the majority of my day. I actually don't start classes until usually noonish every day. So I wake up at seven. I'm up in either the library or the NSBE office by 8. 

Maddie Rice  
Okay, okay. Do you eat breakfast?

Eliza Wright  
 No.

Maddie Rice  
Are you a coffee person. 

Eliza Wright  
No.

Maddie Rice  
So you just get up and go?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, 

Maddie Rice  
wow. Okay, yeah. Are you a morning showerer? 

Eliza Wright  
yes, shower. brush the teeth. Nice pick it outfit again.But yeah, My morning just consists of homework because I'm an early person, not a late night person. So I got a lot of homework, done some administrative things done. And then I head to all of my classes this semester, I'm taking a couple materials classes, as well as a systems engineering course. So they're a little different. They're pretty interesting, but I like them so far.

Maddie Rice  
Cool. Do have a minor or No, 

Eliza Wright  
no. 

Maddie Rice  
Do you think grad school is something that you would do in the future? Are you ready to just like get rolling?

Unknown Speaker  
I'm not grad school per se, but possibly business school or law school.  I'm looking into an MBA or a JD or joint degree with both of them. Wow, so gotta gotta start studying for the GMAT soon. 

Maddie Rice  
Oh my gosh. I didn't know that. Yeah. We are talking like old friends because we are. Are we friends? 

Eliza Wright  
Yes of course

Maddie Rice  
 We're friends because we work together outside of this podcast, obviously on the MEP Scoop, which you mentioned MEP, talk about MEP a little bit. 

Eliza Wright  
So MEP is the Morrill Engineering Program. It's a program for undergraduates from underrepresented minority areas. So that would be African American or black, Hispanic or Latino, and then Native Americans as well. MEP is a fantastic resource. We do a lot of awesome retreats. We just got back from Allerton this past weekend, and just some great people who work there people you can always go to and in general, we're one big family. So yes, it is. It's a great community. 

Maddie Rice  
So that's MEP and then the MEP scoop is. Yeah, I don't want to like oversell it, but it's like maybe the best thing ever. 

Eliza Wright  
I think so. 

Maddie Rice  
It's like a, what would you call it, like a Facebook web series? 

Eliza Wright  
yeah, probably like a two or three minute web series. Every week we give updates on what MEP, NSBE and then SHPE which is a Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. They have updates on what everyone is up to. We usually do like a scoop on the street that's featuring some type of college resource like women in engineering or the ipeng. Office. And in general, we have a lot of fun.

Maddie Rice  
Yeah, IPENGwe talked about the last episode, so if you're curious  check out Kevin Murphy's episode. He got to do this cool internship. I don't know if you know him, but he was an internship in Amsterdam for a summer and I think it wasn't even through the college by being like helped him out with Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, we're doing really really well. But speaking of internships. Have you been able to do any sort of like, work paid or otherwise?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, so after my freshman year, I actually stayed on campus. I did research in the radiation surface science and engineering lab. Doing a plasma material. interactions. 

Maddie Rice  
Fascinating. What does that mean?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, so plasma is like an ionized gas. It's something that's up and coming in the energy industry lately. 

Maddie Rice  
Like an influencer? 

Eliza Wright  
It's like Instagram for nerds. I was looking at different material interactions between the plasma. It's very hot and it's radioactive.  It's green. Not really, but you know, okay, green. 

Maddie Rice  
I got it. I'm picturing like the Simpsons.

Eliza Wright  
 Yes, exactly. It's the Simpsons.It's not but Oh, you're getting it.

Maddie Rice  
I'm getting it, but I'm wrong.

Eliza Wright  
Yes. You're so close. So yeah, plasma is something that's definitely up and coming in the industry and my research looked at how it interacts with different materials, what materials are able to withstand it, and also the different types of particles that can form on the material after it's been interacting with the plasma for too long. So that was research related, very, very different than my next internship, which was at Exelon Generation. They're very, they're the largest nuclear fleet in the country, I was in their nuclear fuels group doing engineering Safety Analysis work. So looking at different dose simulations where we can save money in the power plants, different types of evacuation plans, you know, depending on which way the wind blows, what areas need to go, that type of thing. It was very different. I actually worked in their corporate office as opposed to like a power plant. But I did get to tour some of those. And then my last internship was very, very different. I was at Bain and company in Chicago. Bain and company is a management consulting firm. So I was just doing some consulting work, whether that was Excel models, cold calls, all of the like it was was business, non technical, very different, but a lot of fun.

Maddie Rice  
So are you? Where are you from?

Eliza Wright  
Naperville 

Maddie Rice  
Okay, so you're from the Chicago area. So how would you compare being on campus for probably three years? Four years? . Going back for a whole summer. Especially since you spent a whole summer here in Champaign. .

Eliza Wright  
It's just very different. It's a weird feeling, being surrounded by everyone who's going through what you're going through, and we're all the same age and we all have that immediate community. And going back home, obviously, it's nice. I get to see my old friends and my parents and my pets and everything. But it just it's not that same sense of like, camaraderie is like, go Illini

Maddie Rice  
Were you the youngest or among the youngest people you worked with?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, definitely. When I was in the city and Chicago at Bain and company, everyone is fairly young there But obviously the intern classes is young as well. So it was It was a little more of that, like youngish vibe and like hipster and you know, soulcycle classes and green bowls  and all of that good stuff. So, so it was different. It was cool.

Maddie Rice  
Would you say that is the vibe of working in a city?

Eliza Wright  
I think so I think it's a lot more modern. People are a lot more in touch with what with what they're interested in. And you also have a really wide reach on different things that you might like. So you're able to go to, you know, five different museums and you're able to go try all these new restaurants. So that's what I really liked about the city. It was my first time living in the city. Yeah, there's there's just a lot of options for everyone.

Maddie Rice  
Do you think you would want to work in Chicago? Long term, like in the future? I mean, where's like the dream destination.

Eliza Wright  
I don't know definitely like somewhere near city. Probably not the Midwest. It's flat and it's corn like it is really flat. My parents are from the east coast.  So I would consider going, you know, more towards washington dc or Boston. I also think, you know, Seattle is cool and up and coming. I'm definitely more of like an East Coast than a West Coast person, though. So you probably had over there eventually. 

Maddie Rice  
Were you born in Illinois? 

Eliza Wright  
I was born in Boston. I lived there for two weeks before I was medically cleared to fly. 

Maddie Rice  
So they got you out of there?

Eliza Wright  
 Yeah. So it was just like this weird thing where my parents were in Chicago. And then my dad got a job in Boston. And you know, that's where I was born. But then my dad took another job back in Chicago, so they just were like, switching back and forth and I just kind of tagged along.

Maddie Rice  
Are you the oldest or the only? 

Eliza Wright  
I'm the oldest, 

Maddie Rice  
Do you have siblings.

Eliza Wright  
Yes.

Maddie Rice  
What are your what's your sibling situation?

Eliza Wright  
So I have a young Brother, his name is Chandler. He's a sophomore at Northwestern. He studies neuroscience there.

Maddie Rice  
 So it's just you two. What's it like having a sibling that's also in college. younger than you especially Is it weird?

Eliza Wright  
It was, it was a little weird at first, just because, you know, he's like my little brother and college you get exposed to a lot of big adult thing. So we're a little concerned about him at first. But obviously, he's very, very intelligent and he's capable. And we're both like two hours away from my parents, so nothing bad can happen.

Maddie Rice  
What could possibly go wrong. Yeah, today, but again, what could possibly go wrong? Exactly. Yeah, man. Okay, so we covered a lot already. MEP, NSBE. What is the Knights of St. Patrick?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, yeah. So the Knights of St. Patrick is one of the most prestigious award At the Grainger College of Engineering gives out every year. 

Maddie Rice  
Flexing

Eliza Wright  
I know it's it's okay we're calm about it. Um, but yeah, so it's bestowed upon eight to 15 juniors or seniors every year who display leadership excellence and character and exceptional contribution to the Grainger College of Engineering. Basically, we're all just, you know, officially like knighted like with a sword across the board. It's it's legitimate. Off to show you pictures we like dress up. It's like a ball gown. It's a prom situation it's really cute. Yeah, and then, and then we just go around and do pranks and decorate everything in green.

Maddie Rice  
Oh, sick. Yeah, awesome. 

Eliza Wright  
that's basically it. Um, but yeah, it's, it's it was a really great honor. I was knighted last year and this year, I got to help in the process of nominations applications, and then eventually planning their big Knighting Ball. 

Maddie Rice  
How many engineers are knighted every year?

Eliza Wright  
Usually eight to 15. My year was nine.

Maddie Rice  
Okay. Wow. So it is pretty slim, because I would throw it a number, but I don't know it.

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, we're it's so over 10,000 I think I just went over 10,000 Oh, yeah, yeah, no the processes insane. Engineering council societies, deans and departments are each given two nominations.

Maddie Rice  
So they pick someone to nominate?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah. And then after that they can, you know, submit whoever, they're just different open pool, close pool type business. But yes, you have to be nominated by someone. And then you get the application. The application is very, very long, like five essays, a few documents, letters of recommendation and all that good stuff. And then you may be invited to interview by the selection committee. And that's a panel interview. So it's a pretty long process the panel pretty intense. The panel is undisclosed 

Maddie Rice  
It's an actual Leprachaun.

Eliza Wright  
 It is. It's true, you'll never find them. But the panel typically consists of previous knights who've now graduated, usually an honorary knight or two, which is a faculty who has an engineering background. And then usually someone who's won the Kcaps golden shamrock award, which is faculty or staff without an engineering background.

Maddie Rice  
Okay. Wow. Guys, I just want you to know, Eliza didn't know any of these questions before we started. And she doesn't have anything in front of her.

Eliza Wright  
I mean, i'm just used to talking about myself. 

Maddie Rice  
that sound like they're literally from like the website description of these things. It's just her spitballin so you really can do it all and I don't mean to flatter you and increase the flexing but I work in TV. And I work with anchors and people have to talk on camera like all day every day. And you're like up there with some of the best of them. With MEP Scoop. Eliza is one of our our hosts. She's good at it guys. So shameless plug, check out the MEP scoop on Facebook. It's a really, really great time. Okay, so you were born in Boston. And it really shaped you in your whole 13 or so days that you spent there. . So when do you think you decided to come into this field? This like STEM world?

Eliza Wright  
I think when I was younger, you were just, you know, like, everyone starts off. You're just one of those smart kids good at math and science. Engineers make a lot of money. You know, that type of talk from adults. So I think that's how I kind of started looking off into engineering. And I chose engineering as opposed to like, a different type of science or mathematics just because engineering is more applied, like you make a difference with the knowledge you have. So I really was attracted to that portion of it. Um, in terms of like picking my major that was just kind of a decision,

Maddie Rice  
like a trial and error thing, or do you just kind of picked one and sticking?,

Eliza Wright  
yeah. So I mean, I applied as nuclear plasma radiological, ended up sticking with it. It's really interesting. And even though after I graduate, I'm not going into that field. I definitely learned a lot. Just in general, the engineering curriculum here really focuses on problem solving and critical thinking, yeah, it's one of my favorite aspects, and it's something that I literally bring to every part of my life.

Maddie Rice  
Wow. Yeah. Well, it sounds like a really High acclaim. And I also I think is really important for if anyone that's listening is our age or younger even or older, even whatever if you're a person listening to this I guess you don't have to be pigeonholed into this like set list of careers that stem directly from your major in college. You know, I think people change and add and in tweak your whole life. Definitely. I mean, not to bring her up again, like I do, but look at Kim Kardashian. She's like going to law school right now. 

Eliza Wright  
She made it work. 

Maddie Rice  
She's making it work. And it was a lot of variables that go into her being able to make it work. But I just like shows like anyone can pick up anything be as long as they have the drive and desire to do so. Yeah,

Eliza Wright  
It's really interesting. Like, I mean, the main facet of engineering now there's the technical stuff that gets outdated Right, they're going to have newer younger engineers, the part that really stays with you is how do you approach problems? And how are you, How are you persistent through all the different challenges that will come up? And it's also working in teams and groups a lot as well. Yeah. And I mean, any of that stuff you can bring anywhere. So engineers are CEOs, they're teachers, they're astronauts, they're business people, and it usually doesn't go the other way around most of the time, so you can truly apply the skills that you learned here to anything you want. But in the meantime, it's really, really interesting. 

Maddie Rice  
and I think that's true is that there are some things that just won't change in terms of whatever you do, but especially anything STEM related. I think group work and leadership are like kind of cornerstones which I don't know how those play with each other enough your experience with like leading but also like being collaborative. Sometimes those are the same thing

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, it's definitely, it's taken a little while to adjust to we obviously we have a lot of group projects. And the dynamic is always new and different there. Just kind of working out who's going to do what, who's kind of the leader, the takeaway person. And then obviously, within my own organizations, I've had general member positions. I've been just on the regular executive board. And now obviously, I'm like a leader in one of my organization. So it kind of just develops with you. But as long as you keep in that collaborative piece, and you're willing to work with and talk to others, everything works out.

Maddie Rice  
Yeah, I think it's, I think it's Episode Two. Molly granton's episode, she's a freshman. She was saying that she talked about group work with STEM and how she's a woman. Obviously, it is expected some of the time. So she expressed that she would be the one more charge of like art work. Know, like for the app or something? Yeah, yeah. You know, or like the social media marketing kind of aspects rather than like, I don't know, something that's maybe a little more like math or science. Yeah. Have you experienced that? Or did you earlier on?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah. So earlier on definitely. I'm as like a black woman. There are not a lot of us in engineering, but I'm actually the only undergraduate in my major who's black in general. Yeah, so it's, at first it took a long time to get used to the the diversity and the dynamic is very different in college. But as I got older, and I started leaning more on my support network through, you know, NSBE or MEP, it does get a lot easier. And then I also grew confidence in my own skills. I know I'm a good leader. I know. You know, my grades are up there. I know that I know the material So I'm just as able and just as capable to lead and make decisions and do those in depth math and science calculations as anyone else. And it's kind of just your own confidence and, and the attitude you take is, you know, you're going to make that known and no one's going to push you around.

Maddie Rice  
Yeah. Wow. snaps for that. snaps. Everyone. Yeah, no, you're like, one of the most capable is not a big enough word. Not even overachiever because it's just like achieving. It's just like you. You're doing what you like. Yeah. Put your mind to Yeah. What a great like poster child for this college. We talk to Eliza a lot.

Eliza Wright  
They're so lucky to have me.  

Maddie Rice  
okay, so it's your senior year. And we're coming up on a little the halfway point from this first semester here at this point of recording. So there's a little bit of time left, but what would you say so far as like your proudest achievement? This just since being here,  which I know is a little bit of college left, but

Eliza Wright  
So I have two. One is being elected president NSBE and the other is getting knighted. I'm like very much a goal oriented person. freshman year, I spent first semester looking around feeling it out. And then I gave myself three goals that I wanted to accomplish before the end of college. One was nice be president. One was nights and then the third is the senior 100 honorary list. That'll come out, spring sometime. So two out of the three down, it's definitely something I'm really really proud of, especially Knights. I was knighted as a junior which is not like rare or anything. So that that meant a lot to me that early on. And it's just kind of showing that all the work I put in school wise, diversity wise within my organizations like it matters and people are seeing it. And, you know, now like, I have the ability to kind of move up and I sit on the college level Diversity Committee. I'm like, the only undergraduate representative, and we're making awesome changes on there. And like, I directly get to see that everyday reflected,

Maddie Rice  
that is so important to to sort of like to be able to see the fruit of your labor so directly. I think that's amazing. Yeah, because there are lots of things where you don't get to see that. Or, I mean, you probably do, but it just, it takes so much time.

Eliza Wright  
Yeah it does. Yeah,

Maddie Rice  
and I'm obviously I'm sure it takes a ton of time and a ton of effort. But that's really, really great that you're able to like yeah, being goal oriented, just like having a goal. putting them into it and being able to achieve it is really, really important. And you mentioned that that was kind of your approach to college. Sounds like you were saying, Yeah, first semester, you were just kind of versatile sort of freshman year. Yeah. Kind of just like, feeling it out. That sounded. Obviously, if you listen to this podcast, it sounds like everything worked out for you. It sounds like it were done this way. So would you recommend that freshmen?

Eliza Wright  
definitely

Maddie Rice  
feel it out that first semester?

Eliza Wright  
Yeah. I feel like everyone goes through a little identity crisis their first semester in college. 

Maddie Rice  
Yeah or later.

Eliza Wright  
 Yeah, true all the time. Really. Um, but coming on campus, being away from your family kind of being in an environment where you know, you're not the smartest person anymore is different for a lot of the students here a big school. Yes. So just getting adjusted to all of that and realizing that college isn't going to be perfect when you first start out. I think is a big lesson that everyone has to learn here and the sooner you do it, and the sooner you find your communities and set your goals. The whole experience is a lot easier.

Maddie Rice  
Yeah, that would i would say I kind of did the same thing except take this semester and change it out for like a year and a half.

Eliza Wright  
You're still here. It takes time. Yeah.

Maddie Rice  
It takes time to figure out what you want to do. 

Eliza Wright  
It really does 

Maddie Rice  
You really lucked out with the whole sticking with the major you applied to and getting into and you rode it out. And you sound like you liked it. And that doesn't mean that you're necessarily gonna like have a full on career in it. Yeah, but it sounds like it worked out for you. Definitely. 

Eliza Wright  
Yeah, definitely. I mean, as I was saying earlier with my internships, I went from research to industry and now to consulting like, yeah, I've been the full spectrum and my major has stayed the same. My involvement, for the most part stayed the same. So It's really just what you want to apply yourself to and how you want to sell yourself with those same root engineering principles in mind just being you know, problem solving. 

Maddie Rice  
It's not really change but growth. You know, I don't think I'm a different person than I was when I first applied here, but yeah, I've grown. 

Eliza Wright  
Yes a lot.

Maddie Rice  
Yeah, that's kind of how I explain it because I have a laundry list I could give you like jobs I had before I found this, but do not correlate at all. But, you know, it's like, works out and finds a way to work, you know, as long as you keep like, being present. So, moving on, I'm starting to wrap up a little bit. Do you think you have like a STEM inspiration? Like someone in the STEM community living or dead fictional or real? I think someone said Bill Nye one time

Eliza Wright  
Here's a hero

Maddie Rice  
Not all yours wear capes. 

Eliza Wright  
I feel like this kind of cheesy, but the Hidden Figures movie. I think came out my fresman year. I don't even know when maybe my freshman year. Not too long ago. And that for me was just really like

Maddie Rice  
This is the movie about like the black mathematicians 

Eliza Wright  
Oh, yeah, yeah. So yeah, it focuses on three black woman one is in computer science, One's a mathematician and one's an engineer at NASA, and they're kind of helping with this launch at a time when NASA is kind of, you know, desegregating

Maddie Rice  
Like the 70s?

Eliza Wright  
 I think I would say, somewhere around the 60s, and it just really, it goes through all the work that like these black woman had to do to prove that they were good enough and that they were smart enough and capable to do the more technical work. And it's something that a lot of times like we can take for granted now is like, like minorities and women weren't always able to be here making big changes. So I think it's something that's pretty easy to take for granted now, even though I mean, you know, we're getting better on our diversity. It's not there yet. But it used to be so much harder back then. And people have really had to fight for the ability and the respect to be able to do what they do. So it's definitely it's definitely a great movie. Check it out.

Maddie Rice  
Awesome. So that's Hidden Figures. Probably it's going to be somewhere online, yeah, like prime or something, of course, feels like a prime vibe. Definitely an Amazon Prime period. Okay. And then our last question is, this podcast is called engineering is blank. You could fill that blank with one word, or short phrase, what do you think it would be?

Eliza Wright  
I think I would say engineering is a puzzle.

Maddie Rice  
Oh,

Eliza Wright  
yes, And I think I'm going to use puzzle because you need to bring in so many different types of elements personally, and technically, in order to create a design or to improve something, a lot of you goes into the engineering process. It's critical thinking problem solving your own background, your diversity, but then it's also the material science. And it's the chemistry and it's the mechanics of everything it has to all fit in has to all work together as a group, we all work together. And at the end of the day, we we put something beautiful together, puzzle, a masterpiece, some type of design. It's, it's just a really interesting field and the fact that it's so interdisciplinary, you can really do anything you want.

Maddie Rice  
That's a really, really good one. Wow, good job.

Wow, okay. Well, that is our time. But guys, thanks so much for listening to engineering is blank. You can catch us every Friday. And while you're at it, check out the other podcast on our network. It's called going away innovators hosted by Mike Koon. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at uofigrainger. We'll see you guys next time. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai