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Yunchao Li began his undergraduate engineering education at the China University of Mining and Technology. It was not unusual, he says, for the smallest class size at the renowned institution to be around 100 students. Imagine his surprise when he transferred to the University of Kentucky and began taking materials science and engineering classes.

“I thought it was amazing how small the class sizes were,” Li remembers. “We normally had less than 10 students in each of our materials classes. Professors could pay attention to individual students and students’ questions were solved quickly. Lab classes were my favorite, and because of the smaller class sizes, we could get enough hands-on experience on different pieces of equipment.”

In addition to the ability to interact with professors, Li also found numerous opportunities to engage in significant research, even as an undergraduate. Working with Y.T. Cheng, the Frank J. Derbyshire Professor of Materials Science, Li discovered his area of research interest: lithium ion batteries.

“In Dr. Cheng’s lab, I was able to learn to use the advanced technology and equipment to solve battery-related problems. Through my two years of undergraduate research, I not only acquired many basic research skills for operating experiment equipment, but also the method for designing an experiment aimed at solving a scientific problem,” he says.

While at UK, Li joined Materials Advantage, a student organization with ties to industries interested in materials science and engineering. Through involvement in Materials Advantage, Li made important contacts, traveled to national conferences and visited prominent companies to get a first-hand look at his future line of work.

“UK offered many different ways for me to get connected with industry and prepare for my future job,” he states. “Visiting companies like Toyota, AK steel and GE Aviation and seeing how they approach production taught me a lot.”

Li’s academic prowess enabled him to not only be named the 2012 Materials Engineering Outstanding Senior at the Tau Beta Pi Awards Banquet, he also received several prestigious scholarships, such as the ASM International Bluegrass Chapter Scholarship, Secat Aluminum Scholarship and International Student Scholarship among others.

“The scholarships allowed me to concentrate on my studies and relieved my financial burdens,” he affirms.

After graduating from UK with a bachelor’s degree in materials engineering in 2012, Li was accepted into a graduate program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville where he is pursuing a Ph.D. His education is funded through an Energy Science and Engineering Fellowship in the Breseden Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education (CIRE). CIRE, which is jointly led by the university and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, focuses on energy-related research and has given Li a chance to take his undergraduate research into lithium ion batteries to the next level.

“I’m staying with lithium ion batteries because the research I did opened up a field I am now very excited about,” he says. “I am grateful for my professors’ guidance and believe UK changed my future.”

So it’s understandable that senior chemical engineering major Andrea Ramsey was thrilled to have been hired as a chemical engineer at Eastman Chemical…in November—more than six months before she was scheduled to graduate from UK! “It was fantastic to know I had the job and wouldn’t be competing with anyone. After that, all I had to do was focus on finishing my undergraduate degree,” she beams. Her employment with the Kingsport, TN based company will begin shortly after graduation.

Andrea owes her employment to the College of Engineering’s Cooperative Education Program—also known as Co-op. Through the Co-op program, Andrea experienced three different rotations at Eastman Chemical (spring and fall of 2010 and the summer of 2011), learning how to integrate her undergraduate studies in chemical engineering with company projects and also learning valuable skills not necessarily taught in the classroom, such as sizing a valve. In addition, her Co-op experience allowed her to discover what she did not like—for example, the business side of chemical engineering—which will enable to her to make better career decisions in the future.

“Participating in Co-op required I add an extra year to my degree, but I absolutely loved the Co-op experience and do not regret the extra year,” she said. Her time at Eastman Chemical certainly gave her employer a good idea of the caliber of engineer they would be hiring as well.

What kind of employee will Eastman put to work this summer? Ambitious is a good word to start with when describing Andrea. Consider that she currently holds four different positions in student organizations related to engineering. She is the President of the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers, Vice-President of Tau Beta Pi, Vice-President of Omega Chi Epsilon and Spring Banquet Director for the Society of Women Engineers. Obviously, she cites her biggest challenge as managing her time and ensuring her studies don’t slip.

Andrea credits Dr. Doug Kalika with offering some of the best classes she has taken thus far. “What I like about Dr. Kalika is that you can never go into his office and say, ‘I don’t understand this.’ If you do, he won’t help you. You have to have a question and show that you’ve really thought about it. If you do that, he will stick with you until you understand. He doesn’t baby anyone.”

Dr. Jeffrey Seay, who is a chemical engineering professor at UK’s Extension Campus in Paducah, worked with Andrea on a research project that involved developing simulation models for biomass conversion processes. “I was immediately impressed with Andrea’s intelligence and work ethic,” he recalls. “Her contributions led to a peer reviewed paper and the chance to present her research at the 2nd International Symposium on Sustainable Process and Product Engineering, in Hangzhou, China, where she was awarded the Best Undergraduate Research Award. It was certainly a pleasure to work with Andrea, and I have no doubt that she has a very bright future ahead of her.”

As Andrea finishes her final semester at UK, she looks back on the past four and a half years and knows chemical engineering was the right choice for her. “Chemical engineering is so multi-faceted,” she reflects. “I’m glad to be going into industry, but I could also pursue research. Someone else might be interested in technical sales, since business people doing technical sales are often former chemical engineers. A chemical engineering degree is a great avenue for all kinds of interests.”

“I went to a small county high school where there wasn’t much depth to the curriculum. We only had two advanced placement classes, so I rarely had to study for anything,” he shares. “Once I got here, my biggest challenge was learning how to study and pushing myself to figure out exactly what I needed to know.”

Once Brandon established reliable study routines, he made the transition from Lewis County High School (725 students) to the 20,000+ student body at UK with ease.

“Obviously, there are many more people here, but materials engineering lends itself to getting to know fellow classmates well,” Brandon says. “We all start out in the same place and progress through the classes and labs together. ”

In addition to Brandon’s materials engineering studies, he is also pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He believes the dual degree will provide him with a solid foundation for a career in aerospace or aeronautics. To supplement his studies, Brandon plans to join multidisciplinary student organizations like the Solar Car Team. He has also availed himself to one of the many study abroad opportunities, spending the summer of 2011 taking Calculus III in Germany.

“I really enjoyed studying overseas. I would be very interested in going back for another class or even an internship,” he says.

As he wraps up his sophomore year, Brandon says he is pleased with the materials engineering curriculum, as well as the professors with whom he has interacted.

“The materials engineering program is excellent. The labs are hands-on and require you to thoroughly complete every step of the process. It’s perfect for going into any field where you don’t have to simply make things happen, but understand why they are happening,” he affirms. “John Balk and Matthew Beck have been some of my favorite professors. They both work to make their topics comprehensible and they ask questions designed to make students work through what they already know to come up with an answer.”

Because Brandon is double-majoring two engineering degrees in addition to future internship or opportunities through the Cooperative Education Program (Co-op), he will likely require six or even seven years to fulfill graduation requirements. Nevertheless, he is fully engaged in a program he enjoys and is also making the most of the extracurricular activities available to him, such as attending home basketball games and hanging out with friends. It all adds up to an education experience he expects will only get better.

“The College of Engineering is living up to the good reputation it had when I was deciding where to go to college,” Brandon declares. “I have a lot of pride in going to this school.”

Patience is a virtue Chris will need for the line of work he plans to enter: developing new drug formulations or drug delivery systems for a pharmaceutical company. “Drugs take years to develop, get approved and get into circulation,” says Chris. “If I’m working at the start of clinical trials, it could be five or six years before the drug even gets to manufacturing. If I’m actually formulating the drug, it could be up to a decade before it sees the shelf. But I believe I have the kind of patience necessary for that kind of wait,” he says.

Chris, a Lexington native, planned on a pharmacy career while still in high school, partly due to having pharmacists in his extended family; his grandfather was a pharmacist, as is an aunt. However, Chris doesn’t envision standing behind a counter and filling prescriptions. Rather, he is enrolled in the chemical engineering’s biopharmaceutical track, which allows him to take classes within the College of Pharmacy. “I like the research side of engineering,” he says. “I believe that my chemical engineering major with the biopharmaceutical track will make me a marketable candidate for pharmaceutical research and development positions, whereas had I gone strictly gone into the College of Pharmacy, I would have limited my options.”

As a high school student considering different universities with pharmacy programs, Chris attended Engineers Day (E-Day) on the UK Lexington campus. After discovering the biopharmaceutical track within the College of Engineering, he decided to enroll. Because he had obtained advanced placement credit, he was able to take the Process and Principles class (normally taken during a chemical engineering student’s second year) and join the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering—a national students organization that connects undergraduate and graduate students with engineers, research advisors and companies.

During the summer of 2011, Chris took an internship at Patheon Pharmaceutics, where he helped with drug formulations. “It was a great experience. I was able to work with a lot of pharmaceutical equipment professional engineers use—large and small scale. They had 75 liter drums at Patheon; I think I could live in one of those,” he quips.

With one year before graduation, Chris is planning on attending graduate school to earn a Ph.D. before heading into a career in pharmaceutical research and development. “Eventually, I would like to close out my career by becoming a professor,” he declares. “After many years of being in the industry, I’d like to teach young engineers interested in the biopharmaceutical industry.”

Such plans, of course, are far off. For now, Chris will concentrate on completing his undergraduate degree…and apply to graduate schools…and pursue the next degree—patiently building his career in the same way he builds model planes.

“Until my senior year I was going to major in music,” Anastasia shares. “But I took a few intense science and math classes my last year and really enjoyed them. The experience made me reconsider my choice for a major.”

Settling on engineering, Anastasia began to consider potential university choices. A Lexington native, she decided to look at out-of-state universities with high-quality engineering programs, eventually visiting Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. While she was there, she received unexpected advice.

“The people in their College of Engineering pointed out that I actually had a great engineering school in my backyard,” Anastasia recalls. “I hadn’t seriously considered the University of Kentucky for engineering, but I started hearing great things about it…and it would be much cheaper to stay close to home.”

While the financial savings was a contributing factor, Anastasia was most impressed by the option of pursuing a biopharmaceutical track within her chemical engineering studies.

“I had been considering pharmacy school after completing my undergraduate degree and the biopharmaceutical track gave me a wide range of options with the possibility of pharmacy school still available,” she says.

While her chemical engineering education has been rigorous, Anastasia credits exceptional professors like Kimberly Ward Anderson and Zachary Hilt with expertly combining challenging material with reliable availability.

“As my research advisors, Drs. Anderson and Hilt helped me figure out what I want to do when I graduate. Specifically, Dr. Anderson is not only a great teacher, but she us very accessible. You can email her almost any hour and she will respond to your questions,” says Anastasia. “Also, my biopharmaceutical track classes have made it possible for me to take classes taught by professors in the College of Pharmacy, alongside pharmacy students.”

Anastasia’s positive experience in the UK College of Engineering has led to her becoming an engineer ambassador. As an ambassador, she meets with prospective students, conducts tours and describes the many different possibilities for undergraduate students to get involved in research—something she learned firsthand from participating in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, led by Dr. Anderson.

Having completed her bachelor’s degree in May, Anastasia is staying at UK—pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and continuing her research into drug delivery applications for cancer therapy. While she is debating whether to pursue an academic position or enter the pharmaceutical industry, she is content to not have a fully developed plan.

“The way I see it,” Anastasia smiles, “I have at least five years to figure it out and because chemical engineering encompasses so many biological applications, I’ll always have options.”