More than 80 MSMS students gathered in Nissan Auditorium on Sept. 27 to hear two MSU Chemical Engineering associate professors, Dr. Santantu Kundu and Dr. Neeraj Rai, provide an overview of the chemical engineering discipline and the myriad of career opportunities chemical engineering holds.

Kundu and Neeraj approached Dr. Tina Gibson, the host of this seminar, about the opportunity to introduce the different aspects of chemical engineering to the students. Gibson said she hoped students with all interests, not just chemical engineering, could take something away from the seminar.

“It [the seminar] is not just about chemical engineering. It’s about how people find their niche,” Gibson said. “I wasn’t focusing on the chemical aspect of their presentation. I wanted students to see their journey to how they ended up where they are today.”

Even students who aren’t planning on going into chemical engineering as a career, including junior Danielle McConnell, said they appreciated the seminar in just the way Gibson was hoping.

“I definitely enjoyed it. I learned that chemical engineering goes into a lot of things. It was really cool to see how broad the field really was,” McConnell said. “I liked how each speaker had different perspectives; it was really eye-opening to see how they got from point A to point B [within their careers].”

Noting the success of the seminar, Gibson said she plans to hold more like it in the future in collaboration with physics instructor William Funderburk.

“Mr. Funderburk and I are working on three more presentations this year,” Gibson said. “Our goal is to feature speakers that can discuss their personal ‘story or journey’ through their academic endeavors.”

Many students said they plan to attend future seminars, including junior Addie White.

“I would absolutely be willing to attend more seminars in the future,” White said. “It’s extremely interesting to listen to the speakers sift through the aspects of a field. It opened my eyes to the broad spectrum of job opportunities.”

The MSMS students said they left the seminar with open minds and inspiration to seek new information through future opportunities.