Congratulations to our latest Student Spotlight, Shailaja Mahalingam! Shailaja is a fourth year graduating in December 2021 who always keeps a smiling face in and around the Chem E community. Her positive attitude has served her well in various roles as a mentor and role model within the engineering community at OSU. Within CBE, she is an AIChE Mentor and an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for separations. Outside of CBE, Shailaja is President of the Engineering Ambassadors program at OSU, a program dedicated to helping prospective engineering students learn more about OSU and the programs available through webinars, student panels, and campus tours.
Aside from her involvement on campus, Shailaja has gained a variety of industry and research experience in her through various internship and co-op positions. The summer after her freshman year, she had the chance to work as a research intern at Air Force Research Labs in Dayton. She then co-oped with ExxonMobil Chemicals in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during the Spring 2019 and Summer 2020 semesters, and this summer, she will be working as an intern for Procter & Gamble. In addition to her experience in industry, she is also involved with Dr. Fan’s Clean Energy lab studying catalytic decomposition of toxic waste gas. In the future, Shailaja would like to combine her interests in manufacturing and clean energy research to get more involved in making manufacturing cleaner and more energy efficient.
In her free time, Shailaja also enjoys playing the violin, cooking, and exploring the Short North. Congratulations again, Shailaja! AIChE is proud of you and all you’ve accomplished, and we are grateful to have such a great role model in our own mentorship program as well as other programs within OSU engineering. Keep up the great work!