- Major: Chemical Engineering
- Hometown: Johnson City, TN
- Graduation Year: May 2023
- E-mail: skady@vols.utk.edu
Ambassador Profile
Hi y'all, welcome to Rocky Top!
My name is Sammy Kady, and I am a senior studying Chemical Engineering with a biomolecular concentration. I was born and raised in Johnson City, TN which is only about an hour and a half car ride away, so I've always been around the University of Tennessee for all the numerous athletic, educational, and social events growing up. Although I spent my freshman year at ETSU, I have always known I wanted to become an engineer, so it was an easy decision to transfer to UT. I enjoy staying active by playing sports and hiking, cooking, and exploring everything East Tennessee has on offer.
During high school, I knew I wanted to become an engineer, and after reaching out to some ambassadors and researching the many different disciplines offered here, I had my sights set on Chemical Engineering. Unfortunately, this decision came too late in my senior year of high school, and I attended my hometown college of ETSU. Nonetheless, I feel like UT has made it easy for me transferring in. Upon moving to Knoxville, I immediately noticed how diverse the community is, the endless opportunities on offer, and of course that classic southern hospitality. Although the pandemic put a dent in my college experience, the connections I have made have not been hindered.
On campus, I am a tutor for the Academic Success Center, in which I tutor EF, chemistry, and calculus courses. Additionally, I am a member of AIChE, the student society for chemical engineers, I am also a member of Hydrolunteers, a group focused on watershed cleanup and maintenance for the Tennessee River, revitalized by fellow ambassador Alex Becker. Although it seems like a full plate, being involved with different groups has allowed me to form strong bonds with a wide range of people which I thoroughly enjoy.
In January 2022, I started a coop at Eastman Chemical Company over in Kingsport, TN. This opportunity came via the Engineering Expo, in which companies come to the university to actively recruit and network with engineering students. During the spring, I was in a ‘process engineering’ role, where my main tasks were to research, design, and rate different processes and equipment. One of my big projects during the term was to model a spray tower (a type of distillation column) to determine how it would perform under different process conditions. In the summer, I was more active in the field as a ‘process improvement engineer’. This experience was just about a polar opposite, as I was now working out in the plant, talking to operators, conducting production experiments, and implementing process improvements. A notable project that I worked on during this term was determining the effects of running one of our reactors at a lower oxygen feed rate, which would make for safer operation. By the end of my summer term, I was able to draft the experiment, discuss it with operators and other engineers, conduct the experiment, analyze the data, and present findings to the group. Overall, my experiment showed that we could in fact operate at safer process conditions with no significant hinderance to the process! Despite deciding to only stick around for two terms at Eastman, I got a very good representation of what a chemical engineer can do in the industry, and it was cool to actually use the concepts I learned in class on a real-world project!
College is a big step in life, but it should be cherished because it truly is enjoyable, however intimidating it may seem. I hope you see UT for the amazing college it is, and make the decision to become a Vol. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. Go Vols!
