Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences MSE

During my time at Michigan I learned how to use a Monte Carlo radiation transport tool, MCNP. I also was the GSI for two courses using this code so I gained a lot of experience troubleshooting and teaching others to use it. The experiences at Michigan allowed me to acquire the job at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) since MCNP is required for my work.

I’ve participated in many interviews talking about my experience. I was the Black History Month speaker at WPI in February 2019.  Currently at APL, I volunteer with the STEM office. I also participate in the National Society of Black Engineers DC Professionals chapter.

Reflection on Time at UM

• Favorite Events: My favorite events were the ones where we got to dress up like the Graduate Student Ball by RSG. 
• Favorite Student Orgs: I was very active in Society of Minority Engineers and Scientists- Graduate Component (SMES-G). Xplore Engineering and  Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP) were my favorite outreach programs.

Advice to Students

Have work life balance but always focus on your goals. 

In the last two years of my schooling, I worked closely with Dr. Thomas Downer. The projects he had me work on helped me become much more intimate with the industry-standard modeling codes (e.g., SERPENT, PARCS) than if I had only taken the senior design course, etc. This helped me stand out and gave me a good basis for learning other codes (MCNP).

Advice to Students

Get involved with a professor and see if there is a project you can help them out on over the summer, etc. They are very knowledgeable and know a lot of people. Think about what you might like to do after you graduate and find a professor that does something like that. Also, try to get at least one internship. This will make you a prime candidate, and you will be able to pick and choose job offers.

Throughout my roles at various companies, I’ve had the opportunity to keep learning new technical and communication skills. This has helped me stay interested in my work, expand my professional network, advance my career, and provide benefit to my employer. After eight years in industry I returned to graduate school to refocus on my technical skills while incorporating some of my experience gained from having worked in industry. Combining practice and theory has helped me improve my understanding of both and has positioned me to continue learning while performing research and development in my chosen field.

Advice to Students

Be curious, be interested, be proactive, be well rounded, and guide your own career in a fulfilling and impactful direction.

Since childhood, I have been curious about science and technology innovation, especially physics to explain the physical property and phenomena of the things in the world. As I grow old, life events triggered me to seek practical solutions that may improve or save people’s lives. Soon after I got my masters degree in 2017, a dramatic event made a huge impact on my later life; both my grandma and aunt died of lung cancer, one after another only 5 months apart. While in shock and deep sadness, I wanted to devote myself to something that can attack this devastating disease. I immediately took a position as a research assistant to join a cancer research program in the school of medicine at the Radiation Oncology Department of the University of Michigan, conducting research under Professor Yue Cao and collaborated with Professor Martha Matuszak. In order to make a more direct and immediate impact, I started looking for opportunities in the radiation oncology industry. 

My research experiences background at the University of Michigan helps me a lot to stand out from the applicants for the industries. I am learning in an engineering role in the industries and I am passionate about research and development especially in a physics-related discipline which aligned with my major. Thanks to UM and NERS for providing me with a lot of learning, research, and cross-disciplined study opportunities, that I also remembered during the summer of 2016, I joined a JUACEP program through UM to conduct research in professor Youichi Enokida’s lab at Nagoya University in Japan. I can understand this world more by doing the projects, in the meantime, I would gradually realize what I am interested in and curious about by giving the direction on how you can become better.

Reflection on Time Spent U-M

I am always ready to help other people who are in needs. For example, when I was in high school, there was a huge earthquake in Sichuan of China in 2008. At that time, I volunteered to support those affected local students to recover from the disaster, one of the activities including writing letters to answer the questions from those students in math, physics and chemistry subjects. In my spare time, I like hiking, running, mountain and rock climbing and have some other fun activities.

Favorite Student Orgs

UM SF Alumni, UM Silicon Valley Alumni, NERS ANS students chapter, Student Astronomical Society, CEN

Favorite Classes

As English is not my native language, I may highlight the courses from the ELI department, such as academic writing, research paper writing, pronunciation courses, etc.

Looking back, it seems like a long journey. I started working at a coal plant because nuclear construction was in a pause at the time. I wasn’t thrilled, but looking back, this added greatly to my experience and ended up helping me in the future.

When I went to nuclear I was a test engineer which was one of the most enjoyable periods of my career. Testing and starting up plant systems was very satisfying and a great learning experience. Over the next 15 years, I spent time in many areas of plant operation: operations, maintenance, training, and engineering, eventually becoming plant manager. During that time I also went through the training to become licensed as a Senior Reactor Operator. The time and effort to become an SRO was just as hard as getting my BS but a lot more intense.

After several years as plant manager, I was asked to go back to Fossil Generation to help improve fossil plant performance. I became VP of Fossil Generation and eventually SVP of Electric Operations, responsible for all Fossil Generation and Electric Distribution. Recently, I was asked to come back to Nuclear as the Chief Nuclear Officer.

Every job I’ve had I viewed as a challenge and learning opportunity. Over my career, I’ve learned that knowing the technical side of your job is important but my success, as I look over my career, and what led to my opportunities to move was more about engaging and getting the most out of the people I worked with and who worked for me. The hardest work I have had was about changing an organizations’ performance or culture. Dealing with equipment, solving technical problems isn’t easy but there is a defined methodology, not so with people.

Reflection on Time Spent at U-M

The entire college experience was the best time of my life. The freedom I had to explore my interests and connect with such a variety of people is something that becomes much harder to do as you enter the workforce. Socially, there was such a variety of things to do, it seemed endless.

Advice to Students

My advice to anyone ready to graduate and getting ready for a career: seek out ways to challenge yourself. I am very impressed with and remember those people who step up and volunteer or ask for challenging/new assignments, even though outside their normal area of responsibility. Your career can go in many directions, very different than you may have planned. What I look for when opportunities arise are articulate, capable people willing to accept a challenge. That is what allowed a Nuclear Engineer to run a fossil fleet and a distribution system that serves 2.3 million people.

After my time at the University of Michigan, I moved to H3D, a startup company that spun out of the research group I was in at the University of Michigan. I started as the product manager, where I interacted with customers to understand their needs for the radiation detection equipment that was designed, manufactured and sold by H3D. Additionally, I was responsible for managing the products through the development process and during continuous improvement after the product was no longer a prototype. As product manager, I was heavily involved with the sales team and as the company grew over the years, I took on more and more responsibilities related to the sales process, such as management of our distributors. Eventually, H3D’s sales director moved to another position within the company and I was selected to take over as Sales Director.

Favorite Student Orgs

As a student, I was heavily involved in Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor’s society. This was a great way to meet other students outside of my major as without joining a large society with a variety of students from different majors, I would have spent all my time with fellow nuclear engineers. So I would suggest students to be cognizant of whether their major allows them to get much cross-over with other majors and if not to join an organization(s) that allow them to meet people outside their major. 

Advice to Students

Some of my best memories from school were attending various sporting events: hockey, basketball and football games. It wasn’t easy to balance homework and other educational responsibilities with the time required to attend all of these sporting events, but I would encourage students to try to take time to attend as much extracurricular events as possible. And if you aren’t into sports, then take advantage of musicals, plays, concerts or whatever it is that you enjoy as the university can offer all of it.