I enrolled at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA in 1995 and completed bachelor's degree there in Chemical Engineering in 2001. Among other classes, the "core" chemical engineering curriculum I followed included , fluid mechanics, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, materials science, process control, stagewise& unit operations, mass transfer, process safety principles and enginnering economics. The chemical engineering program does not have recognized areas of 'specialization' as other engineering disciplines do. However, I completed an additional semester of organic chemistry and a semester of biochemistry as my free electives.
In addition to my engineering studies, I also completed 48 credit hours of Japanese (Advanced), Chinese (Intermediate), and Spanish (Advanced) classes. Although my college had a 12-credit humanties quota, there was no foreign language requirement for my major (even if there had been, I had have still been able to exempt it with AP credit). Adding such a large amount of extraneous hours in my schedule did prolong the time it took to get my degree, but the knowlege I gained easily outweighs that disadvantage.
Internships
I held three separate internships during my time as an undergrad. The first of these interships was working for MK-Ferguson (now called the Washington Group), a DOE subcontractor at Y-12 Weapons Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Although the internship I took was in the engineering department, I was immediately reassigned to computer resources due to the needs of the company at the time and my familiarity with PCs and internet technology. My experiences at this internship gave me much of the basis of my computer related work and know-how. The internet was a still-emerging technology and I learned a very valuable amount about how the back-end functions.
My second internship was with Foster Wheeler Environmental, another DOE subcontractor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. I interned in the computer resources department performing computer and internal network upgrades, as well as troubleshooting and support.
My third intership was again working with Foster Wheeler Environmental, but this time in the engineering department. Mostly I double checked mass and energy balance calculations on PFDs (process flow diagrams) and sized pumps for a small sludge/wastewater removal system. This internship was very valuable to me because I got to perform actual enginering work in contrast to the computer-related tasks I had done at my previous interships.
College
In addition to my summer internships, I did some part-time work while taking classes as an undergrad. I worked in the web resources department at the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. There I created and maintained pages on their website, their main tool for keeping track of and in touch with thousands of alumni in and around the country. My primary responsibility was create an online version of the Tech Topics and Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine magazines, but I also did a lot of tinkering with Flash, CSS, Javascript, ASP, and even a little SQL.
I also held a position as an RTA (Residential Technology Advisor) for ResNet (Residential Networking), a subset of the Georgia Tech housing department. I worked this job on a temporary basis as a junior and senior, and went on full time my last semester at tech. It is the job of ResNet to connect, support and adminster the computer network in all of the dormitories on campus, some 7000+ students and faculty. When I wasn't helping a student resolve a computer issue, i was crawling around attics and/or basements checking ports/routers or running new lines. (We did get to walk around in really loud yellow-striped shirts with diagnostic tools that looked like overgrown Palm Pilots, so that made the job fun :-).
Computer skills
Although i am not a programmer, I have written some scripts in Perl and javascript, as well as fortran code (yes, OLD! I know!)... even calling some imsl routines. I have a good foundation in HTML, CSS, and Flash. I am less familiar with ASP, XML, and SQL, though I do have a little experience working with them. Software packages I have used to complete projects include Matlab (LaPlace transforms/ numerical statisics/ data modeling), HYSYS, MS Excel, Word, & Access, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator.
I read, write and speak Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin), and I am fluent in spanish. I studied Japanese up to advanced level, and Chinese up to intermediate level, but I do not yet consider myself fluent in either.