(upbeat music)

- [Michele] Hello, and thank you

for tuning in to
"Connections & Directions",

our University of Michigan's

Civil and Environmental
Engineering podcast.

My name is Michele Santillan,

and I am the CEE Marketing
Communications Specialist

and host of this series.

During our podcast,

we are featuring members
of our CEE community

and how their work reflects our mission

of engineers and service to society.

We will be highlighting
our strategic directions

and our commitment to diversity,
equity, and inclusion.

CEE's five strategic directions

are human habitat experience,

shaping resource flows,

adaptation, automation, and
smart infrastructure finance.

I'm here with Maddie McClain,

an undergraduate student
finishing her sophomore year

in civil engineering.

Welcome Maddie, and thank
you for being here today.

- [Maddie] Yeah, well
thank you for having me.

I'm excited to talk about the department.

- [Michele] How do you see yourself

participating in CEE's
strategic directions?

- [Maddie] I would really enjoy being part

of any of sort of the
sub-teams that were mentioned,

whether it was adaptation, automation,

or I was really interested

in the shaping of research
flows or resource flows.

But I think it's super important

to be a part of any of those sub-teams

just because they're working to ensure

that future generations and communities

have solutions that meet both
the needs of the community,

but also the needs of the environment.

- [Michele] And how does our
mission of being engineers

in the service to society
resonate with you?

- [Maddie] The mission resonates with me

because I really wanna
make a positive impact

on society through my career.

I want to work to create solutions

and implement solutions that
both serve society's needs,

but also take into the account

or take into account the impacts

that those solutions may
have on the environment.

We're in a climate crisis right now

and it's just necessary
to take responsibility

for what our advancements in technology

can have an effect on the environment

and just how to balance that out

with just moving forward in,

or moving forward in infrastructure,

but also designing infrastructure

that doesn't make our climate
crisis worse but better.

- [Michele] And how do
you envision yourself

becoming an engineer in service to society

and making that contribution
that you just talked about?

- [Maddie] I can really envision
myself becoming an engineer

who works to just better the environment

and society cohesively.

Again, we're in a crisis
where it's necessary

to consider the environment
when expanding infrastructure

or designing more advanced technologies.

I don't know much about it yet,

but I really want to go
into green infrastructure.

One of, actually my
grandparent has a friend,

her daughter is working for
a CEO of a company out east

and I don't remember the name of it,

but I really want to
potentially internship

or intern with them next year.

So, I'm really excited to get into that.

But that's sort of how I want

to become like an engineer
in service to society.

Just really consider society's needs

and formulate solutions that
both meet society's needs

as well as the climate crisis now.

- [Michele] So, in addition to the company

that you mentioned

and the the connection
with your grandparent

knowing someone who works
at at a company like that,

is there anything else in your schooling

or maybe in your childhood

that inspired you to think in this way?

- [Maddie] I think so.

I went to a small private school

like pre-K through middle school

that really like not only did our teachers

just help us like appreciate
like our environment

and what we have,

but also almost like our lessons
were kind of incorporated

and just you're learning

obviously you're learning
the needed curriculum,

but also you're doing it

while enjoying nature
and just being present.

And I think that has really
helped me like understand

that it is actually really
awesome to live that way.

And living that way is not only fun,

but it's necessary to how we
need to live in the future,

like just cohesively with the environment

and like the needs of what
society, like our problems.

But so, yeah.

- [Michele] And as you're
talking about cohesive society,

DEI plays an important
role in that as well.

How do you see DEI
embodied in our department?

- [Maddie] Yeah, I think I declared

this past semester actually,

so I just became a
member of this department

and I've really, really enjoyed it

because the community is
just extremely inclusive

and super supportive.

As a woman in STEM, I
feel like extremely valued

in this community and I feel
that I have equal opportunity.

And also just the fact
that there's so much

like representation in this department.

Like I would say over half
of my classmates are women

and that's really important to me

just because I feel like I belong there.

Not that I'm saying I wouldn't belong

in any other department, but just for me

that's really important
to just see other women

doing awesome things that align

with both what I'm interested in

and just help me expand my perspective

on this department and what
I want to do in the future,

so yeah.

- [Michele] And you mentioned
being part of the community

and you're also participating

in the Pelham Scholars Program-

- Yeah.
- as an undergrad.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

- [Maddie] Yeah, I actually just joined

so I finished my second meeting on Tuesday

so I haven't done much
with the program yet,

but I'm really excited
because I can foresee

that participating in the
Pelham Scholar Program,

it'll help me become way more confident

as a woman in engineering

and just help me develop connections

with students, professors, organizations

that share my value of DEI.

And I hope that the
program will also allow me

to just be a leader in the department

and a role model for future women in STEM.

I had a lot of great female teachers

in high school and middle school

in like science and math
and that was so formative

from me and my experience is like, "Wow,

like if they can do it, I can do it too."

And that really inspired
me to like just dive

into a career in
engineering when I wasn't,

"Oh, like it's gonna be really fun, so."

- [Michele] And that's excellent.

And on that note then, how did you select

coming to the University of
Michigan's EEE department

versus another college when you were

in the process of selecting a university

to attend at the end of high school?

- [Maddie] Yeah, I chose Michigan.

Well one, it's close to home

and that's really nice for me

just because I have a little sister

and obviously I still
wanna be part of her life,

and I love my family.

My twin sister actually goes to MSU,

so we kind of have a little family rivalry

going on right now.

But another reason or the main reasons

why I chose Michigan was
because of just its rigor

and excellent engineering program.

I also really loved the campus.

Ann Arbor is obviously way
larger than Traverse City,

but similar in the way it's set up,

so it felt super homey to me.

I didn't really go on an official
tour at all due to Covid,

but what really helped me choose

was just like the stats on paper,

like it was a great engineering school,

the campus was awesome.

I really felt like I
had to work to get here,

and that's really important to me

because I feel like all the hard work

in high school paid off.

And also the reason why I chose

specifically the CEE department

was I had like before I declared

I was in the like CEE
200 introduction course

and I met some really
great people in there

and I loved the way that the professor

described like what exactly

civil engineering is
in a really short way.

She just essentially said,
"Anything you can see

from a bird's eye view is what we do."

And that was just really inspiring to me

and I was like, "Wow, that's really cool."

Like I want to be a part of everything

and infrastructure is, I don't know,

the design process seems
very interesting to me,

so that's another reason why I chose.

And now, that I did choose this department

I'm super happy with my decision.

Before I came to
Michigan, I was often told

how competitive the
engineering department is.

And in CEE, yes, it's
extremely challenging,

but I have never felt like
competitive with my peers.

I have felt supported
and it's so inclusive

and I've met some of my
very best friends this year,

so that's been awesome.

And also just the small class sizes,

I've really established great
relationships with my teachers

and I think that's really important to me

just as I go further in my career

specifically like just with research

or if they have any
internship opportunities

that they think would really work best

like for my interest

just because they have
been able to get to know me

and I've been able to
get to know them, so.

- [Michele] Do you belong
to any student organizations

other than your participation
in Pelham Scholars?

- [Maddie] Last year I was
actually on the track team,

but it did not work with
my schedule this year

so unfortunately I did choose
engineering over running,

which to me wasn't really a question,

but so I wasn't super involved
in much freshman year,

but this year I wanted
to join a project team.

So, currently I'm on BLUElab Metro

specifically the sub-team canopy covers,

which originally focused
on more like tree plantings

to help UMich reach a reach
its carbon neutrality goals.

But currently, we're working
on creating this project

that essentially repurposes the ground

underneath our solar farm on North Campus.

And it seems like it's
gonna be pretty extensive.

Hopefully, we can get at least
some of it started or done.

We're communicating
with grounds right now,

but again, I think it just connects

to what exactly like civil engineers

and environmental
engineers are trying to do

is just show that we can
live a different way.

And yes, it might change

how we formulate solutions,

but it doesn't mean that
it's gonna be worse,

and it actually could be better

because I did a little research

on just agriculture under solar panels

and oftentimes it can even
like increase yield of crops,

it can decrease

the amount of water used
just because the shade

decreases evaporation rates
in really sunny climates.

So, I don't know, just
doing that project here

and hopefully we only have
four people in our sub-team

and we just spoke with
a landscape architect

and so it might not be possible
for just us four to do it,

but I just think it was
even if it doesn't get

too far off the ground, hopefully it will.

But it was just a really exciting project

to just think about and like understand,

okay, we could approach it this direction,

we could turn it into wetland,

we could just increase
the health of the soil

because that also sequesters carbon.

So, understanding just how
many different solutions

we can go about fighting
this climate crisis

was, again, I was like, "This,

like the CEE department
is where I wanna be,

like I'm super interested

in the topics that we're talking about

and we're working to try to fix."

So yeah, those are a lot of reasons,

but very happy with my decision.

- [Michele] That's excellent.

And you talked about your involvement,

you know, in this additional group.

If you had a pearl of wisdom to share

with a prospective student

considering the University
of Michigan and CEE,

what would that message be?

- [Maddie] I would definitely
say do not be afraid

to reach out to your classmates

and make friends with your classmates

and work together with other people.

I think that has been very
helpful for me just to,

this is a really challenging course load

and just having a supportive group

has made it so much more
fun and attainable for me.

I was a straight A student in high school

and coming here it was like, "Wow,

this is really, really hard."

And just having a support
group that you can work with

on homework assignments,
you can study with,

or just hang out after you
finish a stressful week

has definitely changed
my college experience.

I think freshman year I
had a really tough time

transitioning from a solo studier

or to like, "Hey, like
it's okay to reach out

and get help when you need it."

And I am so much happier this year

and it's just been awesome.

And again, like most of
the time those study people

are gonna be your best friends, so.

- [Michele] Well, thank you
so much for joining us today.

- [Maddie] Well, thank you for having me.

(upbeat music)

- [Michele] Thank you for listening

to our podcast conversation.

For more information
about CEE at Michigan,

please visit our website

at cee.umich.edu.

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