I, Mariah Cowley, am a fourth generation Engineer. However, I am the first Civil, not to mention the first female, Engineer in my family. Being from Texas, SMU was always in the back of my mind, but I thought I wanted to go out of state. One day, while listening to NPR, a program came on discussing the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity. I probably listened to the program about three times before I could actually believe what I was hearing. It was exactly what I wanted to do with my degree: using Engineering to help people in need. After that, I was sold. During my time here, I have also pursued my passion for art through a photography minor. 

As for on-campus life, I am a part of the Lyle Ambassadors, who tour and talk to prospective students to our Engineering school. I am also a participating in an Immersion Design project this Spring Break through the Innovation Gymnasium, where we will be tackling problems surrounding sustainable housing and latrines.

This summer I worked a full time internship at Commscope, located in Richardson. I worked 40 hours a week from May 16th-July 29th. Most of the work I did this summer involved correcting, updating, and revamping their online catalog. I was located on the engineering floor and shared an office with one of the other employees. I was able to work directly with product managers, engineers, and the team located in China who was in charge of creating engineering drawings for customer use, as well as the marketing team in order to make updates and corrections to the current catalog. Along with all of this, I was given odd jobs, like putting together/taking apart displays of their different solutions to show off to their customers, as well as recalibrating products that had been calibrated incorrectly during manufacturing. I got to work side by side some of the engineers, as well as gain experience dealing with deadlines, brainstorming, weekly meetings, and working with other professionals. It was a fantastic experience.