From the Periodic Table to the Dinner Table

Abstract

Not until I was nearly finished with high school did people suspect I would someday become a chemical engineer or professor. I had a natural aptitude and love for math and chemistry, and since chemical engineering combines these two subjects, in hindsight it was an obvious choice. I also enjoyed my high school job of tutoring others in math and science, and especially loved that indescribable feeling when I helped a student achieve an “A-ha!” moment: the dawning of recognition on their faces and the almost tangible clarity they suddenly seem to emit was a moment of mutual excitement for me as a teacher as much as it could be for him or her as a student. A teaching career was therefore a clear option by then as well. Without the aid of hindsight, my career plan follows my interests from earlier in my childhood.