Howdy!
My name is Luke Smith, and I am a senior chemical engineering major from Flower Mound, Texas. But more importantly, I am the loudest and proudest member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2014! A-WHOOP!
Thank you for visiting my brand new ChemE Folio! I have used this website to display some personal and professional information about myself. I hope to enter the energy industry as an environmental engineer, and I believe I have the skills and qualifications to do it. Throughout this website, you will find evidence of that in the form of past projects and presentations from industry and the classroom. I will also spell out some of the core principles by which I conduct myself. In addition, I simply would like to share my interests, background and involvement. My goal in this website is that when you read through each section, you will feel like you know me, and that the bullet points on my resume will have more meaning because you will understand what I have learned from my experiences, and what I hope to accomplish in this next step of my career.
To begin, allow me to describe myself briefly. My past work and extracurricular experiences have taught me how to utilize my strengths and take advantage of opportunities for improvement. I am proud of what I've learned since entering A&M three years ago. In short, I would describe myself in three categories:
Creative Solution Finder
Challenge is the driving force of any engineering discipline. In manufacturing, the expectations for a plant can change on a dime depending on business objectives, regulations, and market demand. Complex processes must be optimized efficiently in order to remain competitively advantaged. My past managers have felt confident assigning me some very open-ended projects, such as my scrap hopper project at Cargill. Creativity differentiates good engineers from average ones on every level. In my experience at the plant level, the innovations that we make serve as case studies for the company at a larger scale, so creativity is always encouraged even in the seemingly smallest of projects. When looking for a company with which to begin my career, I look for a group that fosters an environment of creativity, because in those off-the-beaten-path ideas, I have had some of my more satifying successes. |
Reliable Task Manager
Rarely will an engineer have only one project to do at any point in time. Technical knowledge and even creativity can easily go wasted if a person does not prioritize properly. I am no stranger to a over-filled agenda. During my summer at Valero, I worked on seven projects in ten weeks. At Cargill, I worked on twice that many projects, and completed my requirements for every single one of them because I learned quickly that my time was more limited than my ability to finish each project. Organization became a priority for me for the first time when I knew that I would be evaluated based on my tangible results. The projects I completed were often conceptually simpler than a test in school, but they required more work to finish. I learned that organization is not simply the way that one sorts files and schedules his day, but how a person communicates with others and collaborates in order to achieve goals that benefit everyone. |
Involved Leader
While it is true that I have spent more time studying and completing school assignments than doing anything else during my years at A&M, my capacity to lead has grown most through the organizations in which I have participated and led. As a freshman, I learned the importance of camaraderie and service through Aggie Fish Club. AFC gave me the opportunity to coordinate events and get to know a diverse group of freshmen during my first year at A&M. I used the lesson I learned there to lead in a handful of organizations on and off campus throughout the following years. My greatest commitment is to my church, where I lead a group of students in study and service and evangelism events. Through this position I have learned how to truly lead, because unlike in my previous organizational roles, I have been given the latitude to recruit members and plan events without many constraints. |