Although it’s a strange dream for a child to have, I have wanted to work in the nuclear energy industry since sixth grade. When I received information about Tandon, I was enthusiastic to apply! At Tandon, I was able to major in Electrical Engineering, concentrating in power, and earn a minor in Nuclear Sciences and Engineering.
I had never visited New York City before I arrived on campus from Arizona, but I felt welcomed as soon as I moved in. The friends I made living in Othmer Hall during my freshman year are still some my closest. Due to small class sizes, I knew all my classmates. We stuck together semester after semester and became a tight-knit group outside of class.
The faculty are approachable and provide outstanding support and mentorship. Working with professors in the Electric Power area and completing my senior design project under the direction of Prof. de Leon was invaluable. As a result of work I did during my senior year on Conservative Voltage Reduction, I co-authored a paper that was published in the IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery.
Tandon has many outstanding student organizations to join. I was Chair of IEEE, President of Eta Kappa Nu, and a member of Tau Beta Pi and Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Being a founding sister and Professional Development Chair of the Beta Sigma chapter Alpha Omega Epsilon, Tandon’s first and only sorority, is one of my proudest accomplishments. The Tandon chapter enables young women to build meaningful, lifelong social and professional relationships. The sisters of Alpha Omega Epsilon are exemplary student leaders on campus; I could not be more honored as an alumna.
I currently work at Palo Verde Generating Station, a nuclear power plant just west of Phoenix, Arizona. Palo Verde Generating Station is the nation’s largest power producer, and the only plant in the U.S. to produce more than 30 million megawatt-hours in a year — a milestone attained by the plant eleven times. It is the only nuclear power plant in the world not located on a major body of water; instead, wastewater from the city of Phoenix is recycled to cool the plant to the tune of 60 thousand gallons per minute. I am responsible for maintaining some of the largest power producing equipment seen in the world. It is rewarding to know that my work as an engineer serves more than four million people with environmentally friendly, carbon-free energy. My time at Tandon enabled me to have the career at a nuclear power plant that I had dreamed of as a girl!