Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Campus Life

Chloe Weck

Chloe Weck is a fifth year mechanical engineering co-op student who was originally set on attending McGill University in Montreal, Canada. "When I was choosing colleges, I didn't really know any engineers," Chloe explained. "I was actually thinking about international relations- I didn't even know what an engineer did." Chloe changed her mind about Canada after a memorable pre-frosh experience at Stevens. "The campus had a real community feeling; it just felt right," she remembered. In high school, Chloe had taken several technical electives as part of a Technology Program for accelerated students. During her visit to Stevens, she met professors who welcomed her in their labs and explained their work. Chloe was inspired when she saw the application of the technical classes she never expected to use and that fall she enrolled in Stevens as a business and technology student. Soon Chloe realized that she enjoyed her technical classes the most. This prompted her to change her major twice - first from business to engineering management, and then to mechanical engineering. "With a mechanical background, I can do whatever I want. I can still manage projects, but I also have a solid understanding of the details and technical issues," Chloe explained. Even when mechanical engineering seemed to be the best fit, Chloe still had doubts in her fourth year. She had always done well academically but continued to question whether her field of study would ever give her an opportunity to do the humanitarian work she was passionate about. Chloe knew she wanted to use her problem-solving skills to achieve real, tangible results that actually improved people's lives. At the time, she had difficulty seeing how some of her technical classes were bringing her closer to that goal. Luckily, Chloe attended a dinner for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) during which a representative from a well-established chapter of Engineers Without Boarders (EWB) shared his volunteer experiences. EWB projects involved both engineering and humanitarian involvement and this inspired Chloe to co-found a chapter at Stevens (EWB-SIT) in October 2005, together with Dave Velasco '07 and alumnus Robert Hoar '06. EWB is a non-profit humanitarian organization that involves both students and professionals in sustainable engineering projects for developing communities worldwide. Establishing the Stevens chapter and getting the first projects approved took a year of effort and dedication from all members. Since then, EWB-SIT has grown to over 20 members and Chloe is currently part of a senior-design team working on a project in the Dominican Republic with Greg Maietta, Dave Velasco, Nick Strand and Katie Weatherall. Chloe's team is designing a hydro-electric system that will provide electricity to the community of El Dulce, in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. The community is currently without electricity, but the project will use nearby rivers to power a turbine generator at a lower elevation. The group is responsible for designing a water intake, penstock (piping grid used to guide the water from source to turbine) the turbine itself and a tailrace (how the water gets back to the river). One of the challenges is to think long-term sustainability, i.e. designing with parts that can be replaced and maintained years from now. The team will be visiting the site again in March to do a secondary assessment and use the results of a United Nations (UN) feasibility study to finalize a design. UN personnel will connect the power to the grid and oversee power distribution once the system is in place. According to Chloe, "Most of the EWB projects are really low-tech stuff - building a dam, sanitation, composting toilets. You just need to have some basic knowledge of the technology and be able to use it to think outside the box and find solutions that actually work." Chloe also made sure to note, "It's really the community's project and we just help them. It's very important to do something they want, not what we think is important." Chloe just finished her term as President of EWB and is involved in several other activities on campus. She has served as President of ASME, choreographer and performer for the American Culture Club UNITY act and PULSE and has been an Orientation Leader for the past three years. She is a member of Gear and Triangle, Pi Tau Sigma and Tau Beta Pi honor societies. Chloe also found co-op to be a valuable experience. Chloe spent one term with Tishman Construction as an Engineering Management student and has worked full or part-time for the past three years as a mechanical engineering co-op for CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), formerly Trammell Crow. At CBRE, a real-estate services firm, Chloe worked on the engineering management team at the World Financial Center. She recalls, "I was just surrounded by really smart people and so much information. I started with little interest in facilities management, but I got to do a little bit of everything- electrical, HVAC, plumbing, CAD layouts and project management. It was never just one thing." Chloe will be working full time with CBRE as a project-engineer after graduation. When asked what she will miss most about Stevens, Chloe replied, "I think it's that sense of community. It may sound cheesy, but it's really something I'll miss. It's partly because of our size, but it helps that we start each year out with a week-long orientation where you can really meet the new class. And we all pretty much know everyone in our majors, at least their faces." She also noted that her job as an O-Team leader has gotten easier as every incoming class seems to be more outgoing than the last. Chloe admits that while she is most passionate about the kind of work she has done with EWB, she is excited to discover what the corporate world has to offer. Several years of working full-time will hopefully give her the resources she needs to volunteer in the future. In the meantime Chloe says, "It's so gratifying to know that the chapter is well-established and there are committed undergraduates who will keep it going." Eventually, Chloe hopes to participate in the Peace Corps Masters International program.

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