Our student this week is Kelci Jo Bryson, a chemical engineering major who accepted a co-op at DOW Chemical at their plant location in Louisville, Kentucky. Bryson describes the department she worked in and what her main responsibilities were.
“I worked in the Plastic Additives/Dryers department,” she said. “My main project was to create a deluge P&ID for one of the units, because they did not previously have one. From this I learned how to trace lines through an entire unit, and I became very familiar with P&ID’s. I also created and reviewed a lot of procedures, which is the plant’s method of operation. In working with these procedures, I had to communicate with a wide variety of people to discover the most efficient way to complete the task.”
Bryson received valuable benefits during her co-op assignment—learning things that are very applicable to the real working world, new skills, and how to communicate with people.
“I saw some amazing pieces of machinery that I’ve only read about in textbooks, which blew my mind every time I saw them,” said Bryson. “The most important thing I learned from this experience was that this is definitely the field I want to be in. I get really excited when learning how the units operate and trying to fix things when they go wrong. I am very grateful for this opportunity because it showed me that I am on the right path to where I want to go.”