Success in the Real World

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This page highlights Jefferson students who have experienced real success in the fields of science and engineering. I like to say that Jefferson students can compete with anyone from anywhere. These students show that that is true. Scroll down for the most recent stories.

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	Steve Cary
	After completing his work at JCC, Steve transferred to UofL, where he received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.B.A, graduating summa cum laude (with highest honors). Steve was also recipient of the Metroversity Outstanding Adult Learner Award and Scholarship while at UofL. Upon graduating from UofL, Steve landed a job working for ExxonMobile. He is a process engineer for an isomerization unit at ExxonMobile's Beaumont, Texas, plant. Steve says that he was not a very good student either in high school or early in his college career. He believes JCC provides a valuable service to the community in that it creates opportunities for students who have ability but need support to make the transition to a major university and succeed in a field like chemical engineering. He says the math and science background he obtained at JCC allowed him to compete at UofL, even though other students were younger than him and did not have the family obligations he had. He emphasizes the importance of a strong work ethic to success.
	--Fall 2002
	Mark Bennett
	While a student at JCC, Mark applied for and received a summer internship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The internship was through the Department of Energy's Community College Institute. While at Oak Ridge Mark worked with ORNL scientists and with students from other community colleges as well as students from major universities. Mark's assignment was at the National Transportation Research Center, where he was highly productive as evidenced by an article written about him by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (click here for the article in PDF format). Upon completing his internship Mark returned to Louisville to finish his studies. NTRC research scientist John Whealton, who oversaw Mark's work, said that Mark was very well prepared by JCC and came to ORNL with the knowledge and passion needed to do a great job. After finishing at JCC, Mark transferred to the University of Kentucky to study engineering. By the Spring of 2004 Mark had been elected to serve as Vice-Chair for the UK Student Chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
	--Fall 2002/Spring 2004
	Wayne Whitehouse
	After finishing his studies at JCC, Wayne went on to UofL’s Speed School and received a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. While at Speed, Wayne began working for HNTB in Louisville. While there he worked on projects involving the Louisville airport and the Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District. Wayne then left HNTB to take a position with the Louisville Water Company, where he has worked on projects involving water facilities such as water main rehabilitation. Wayne passed his Professional Engineer exam in 2001. At the LWC Wayne has lead the Cleaning and Lining program, a long-term project where old water mains are rehabilitated by running a metal cleaner/scraper through them and then spraying the inside of the water main with cement. The cleaners scrape off years and years of tuberculation (sometimes 1"-2" thick). The cement provides a new inner wall for better water quality and flow as well as some structural support. When he finishes with this project he says other challenges await at the LWC, including possibly working on extending the water system or work on research. Wayne says that JCC prepared him well for UofL. He recommends starting at JCC, where he says the professors are friendlier. In his opinion it’s the best thing you can do.
	--Spring 2004/Spring 2005
	Anthony Hewitt
	Anthony received his A.S. from JCC in 1993, two years after getting out of the army (1^st Infantry Division). He went on to UofL and received his B.A. in Civil Engineering in 1997, and completed his Master’s of Engineering degree in 1998. His thesis for his Master’s was "Hydrological Impacts on Abandoned and Reclaimed Surface Coal Mines". While still working on his Master’s, Anthony got a job at a local consulting firm as a Materials Testing Technician and later as a Staff Engineer in the water resources department. While there he performed quality control and performance tests materials from construction sites including concrete, steel, and soil; performed water quality analysis for the Corps Of Engineers on lakes in various states; performed bridge scour analysis on bridges in Kentucky; and did water modeling for several state departments of transportation, including Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. After getting his Master’s Anthony went on to work for the Louisville Water Company. There he has designed and done project managing for Transmission Water Mains (typically water mains 24" and larger) and worked on issues regarding fire hydrants. Anthony has obtained his Professional Engineer's License (PE) and has co-authored a paper for The American Water Works Association (AWWA) on de-chlorination of potable water. Anthony notes that when he started back to school at JCC he did not have a lot of confidence but he did have a lot of energy. He started with basic classes, including algebra, trigonometry, and algebra-based physics. He has some advice for students transferring to U of L. He says Speed counselors he worked with were nice and courteous, however they will not "hold your hand" through the process. He says there are a lot of students going to Speed and there are relatively few transfer students, so counselors are not always familiar with the transfer process. Anthony emphasizes that it is the student's responsibility to ensure everything is in order; that means following up on a regular basis with the admissions office and counselors about any unresolved items until everything is complete. "Do not assume you show up one day, complete a few forms and somebody will take care of you. This would be nice ...however, we are talking about your education and nobody but yourself will have as much interest as the student.... trust everyone but following up regularly. You will find more times than not there is a break in the communication (for what ever reason), and there will come a time when following up will pay off."
	--Spring 2004/Spring 2005
	Huan Dinh
	Huan received his Associate of Science Degree from JCC in May 2003, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. He transferred to UofL’s Speed Scientific School, where he is majoring in Electrical Engineering.  He matched his JCC grades during his first semester at UofL, landing another 4.0 GPA there. Spring 2005 will be his last semester at UofL, and his goal is to graduate with at least a 3.9. Huan reports that he was able to have his prior years of work experience counted toward UofL's co-op requirements.  He finds this a good thing because it means he is closer to his degree, but says it does mean he loses an opportunity to become more familiar with the engineering work environment in the US. Huan has been inducted into a number of honor societies, including IEEE, the UofL chapter of Eta Kappa Nu (the National Honor Society for Electrical Engineering), and the Golden Key Honor Society. He is doing undergraduate research with UofL faculty member Tamer Inanc, and this work has resulted in a submitted conference paper for the 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. This research has also been selected for the "Posters at the Capitol" program in Frankfort in February 2006. Huan says it will be an honor to get to meet the state legislators. Huan is currently hoping that his hard work and success in school will translate into a fellowship from the Department of Homeland Security so that he can quit his current job and spend more time on his studies. He received the Theobald Scholarship Award for EE students of Speed School in 2004, and the Academic Commonwealth Scholarship in 2005, so he has a track record of success in getting scholarships. All Jefferson students should remember that scholarship opportunities are out there for students with a strong academic background.
	--Spring 2005/Spring 2006
	Jonathan Berry
	Jonathan reports that JCC was excellent preparation for the transfer to Speed Scientific School, as well as for his success as a Professional Engineer. He says his professors at JCC were enthusiastic about the subjects they taught, and were very approachable if he had questions. Jonathan received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering from UofL’s Speed School. He recently passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam and was licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE) in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. After getting his Bachelor’s, Jonathan accepted a position with Beam, Longest and Neff, LLC (BLN), based out of Indianapolis. BLN had teamed with two other consulting engineering firms to create the joint venture known as Community Transportation Solutions, Inc. (CTS) which was awarded the contract to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement/Preliminary Design for the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville. Jonathan worked on the preliminary design of the alternatives that were developed for evaluation in the Environmental Impact Statement. He developed the Finite Element Surface Water Model for the Ohio River from Twelve Mile Island to just downstream of the McAlpine Locks and Dam. This model was used to evaluate the effects that proposed new bridges would have on the shipping channel, the Kennedy Bridge piers, and other aspects of the river. He also developed the cost estimates for the alternatives, as well as evaluating construction sequencing and maintenance of traffic issues for the alternatives. CTS was recently awarded the General Engineering Consultant (GEC) contract for the construction of the Ohio River Bridges Project, so Jonathan may be working on the Ohio River Bridges Project for the next 15 years. Jonathan notes that he has been utilizing his writing skills a lot, writing sections for the operations plan that will define the scope of work for the GEC. He says that he has definitely done more writing in his career than he ever thought he would have.
	--Spring 2004
	Todd Miller
	Todd went on from JCC to receive a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from UofL. After spending about eighteen months in the workforce he went back to Speed to get his Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Todd’s Master’s thesis topic was fuzzy logic. Since completing his studies at UofL Todd has moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he works for Lexmark, the printer company.
	--Spring 2004
	Jessica Seebold
	Jessica completed her Associate of Science degree in 2004, graduating from JCC with high distinction.  While she had considered pursuing a 4-year degree in engineering, she found that the class schedule required by engineering school would not be compatible with her work at GE.  She opted to continue with work. At GE, Jessica works as a material engineer, coordinating material procurement & delivery for railroad signaling projects.  Jessica reports that she has recently started learning the basics of railway signaling circuit design in her spare time in hopes of eventually moving into a signal engineer position.  She says the things she learned in University Physics II have created a nice foundation for that undertaking.  She says that other JCC classes have been useful in her work as well.  These include her Visual Basic class, which has helped improve her communication with some of GE's software programmers to help get engineering tools developed, and her economics class which has helped her in business meetings with the "higher ups".  And she says that, while she did not enjoy her Basic Public Speaking class at JCC, it has helped her to do a better job at leading meetings and giving presentations.
	--Fall 2004
	Steve Shifflett
	Steve wrapped up his pre-engineering studies at JCC in 2004, graduating with an Associate of Science and a 3.7 GPA.  He transferred to UofL’s Speed School in Fall 2004.  Steve reported a fairly rough transfer experience due to some paperwork problems, but with the assistance of advisors at JCC and Speed it all worked out.  In his first semester he took Maple, Drafting, Thermo, Geology, and Statics at Speed and did very well – landing a 3.9 GPA in his first semester.  He reports that much of his 1^st semester at UofL was a more in-depth coverage of what he learned in Physics at JCC.
	--Spring 2005
	Michael Schulte
	In January 2009 Mike was accepted into the Mechanical Engineering program at the University of Kentucky. Mike began making contacts at UK well before he received his associates from Jefferson with a 3.6 GPA in May 2009. While at Jefferson, Mike had been heavily involved in the Lexington-based Kentucky Science and Technology Corporations’ Kentucky Satellite/ Kentucky Space program, working on issues of how to test a satellite against the effects of heat, and attending a launch. Mike reports his Jefferson physics classes were good prep for his engineering coursework, and also that he intends to do a little person research to investigate cooling via the Reversed Brayton Cycle – if he can find an appropriate junkyard turbocharger to use!
	--Fall 2009

Last updated Tuesday, August 25, 2009.
Stories posted with permission of persons named.