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About Me

Hi! My name is Sophia Sperry and I am a third-year chemical engineering major with a humanitarian engineering minor at The Ohio State University.

I am involved in the Society of Women Engineers, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Bob Ross Painting Club, and Buckeye Biotech Association. I have also participated in the Buckeye Leadership Fellows Foundations program and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

After graduating, I intend to enter the industry. I have had various co-op experiences and hope to get many more opportunities to discover my passions. My primary interests include pharma, biotechnology, and agriculture.

Year in Review

My school year so far has been a lot of learning and development. I am still learning what is the best way for me to study is. I’ve been transitioning from my high school self to my adult self steadily. This school year has made me question things more analytically and in depth. I am more inquisitive and perceptive than I was before. I’m excited to continue to grow as an individual and continue my college journey.

G.O.A.L.S.

 

  • Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc.
    • In the future I hope to study abroad in China to strengthen my growing Chinese language and fully immerse in the culture. I hope to partake in the Design Principles and Biomedical Research trip during the summer of my junior year.
  • Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
    • I am currently reaching out to different laboratories to get involved in research and have completed a research and career exploration class through the Molecular Genetics department.
  • Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
  • Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
    • I am involved on campus in various organizations from Society of Women Engineers to the Mountaineering Club. In addition to these organizations, I had the opportunity to become a Buckeye Leadership Fellow (BLF). This year is the first time the program has been opened to freshman. BLF focuses on leadership development of students as they transition into college.
  • Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.

Career

Resume (As of Spring 2020)

LinkedIn

Career Goals 

As I progress through college and get exposure to different classes and opportunities within different areas of industry, my career goals are constantly changing. Currently, I hope to continue to get diversified experience through various co-ops. I co-oped the Summer of 2019 at BSI Engineering in Cincinnati, Ohio. I worked in Project Management where my primary role was serving as a Project Manager II for a $1.2 million project. I assisted with forecasting and budget management for other smaller projects as well. I enjoyed this role as I was just starting my college career and being able to have visibility to the entirety of projects (documenting meetings with subject matter experts) from what the mechanical, electrical, chemical, etc. engineers were working helped me to learn more about different engineering professions. It grew my leadership skills as well. Good communication and time management is vital in Project Management where you have to make sure the team understands deadlines, documentation procedures, and act as both a client representative and company representative.

During the Spring 2020 term, I co-oped at Ethicon Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Through this co-op I was able to get experience at a large company – it was very different from working at BSI Engineering (which I really enjoyed!). The co-op program at Ethicon was long-standing which provided resources such as co-op committees, volunteer opportunities, and networking. I was on the technical co-op committee where we scheduled technical classes such as Minitab, SolidWorks, 3D-printing, etc. for co-ops to attend and learn from full-time employees to improve our skills for the job. I was not only able to network with individuals from Ethicon, but also throughout the Johnson & Johnson company. In the future, I would love to have a co-op term at Janssen as I am greatly interested in the pharmaceutical side of healthcare. Much of my co-op involved testing – using Ethicon devices for data collection and following up with analysis. I loved my time here as there was a huge network of not only other co-ops to grow and develop with but also a large support network of employees that want to see you succeed.

Service Reflection – 2019 

I have been able to help with Biological Science Scholars outings such as visiting the Wesley Glen Retirement Community (my favorite was the Halloween night where residents and their families went trick-or-treating throughout the building. Seeing all of their fun costumes while serving as guides, set-up, and clean-up crew was a great way to give back to the community.

I have volunteered at the Cincinnati Nature Center since I moved to Cincinnati in middle school. I’ve continued my service there through holiday decoration and volunteering at events for donors such as the Pancake Breakfast held at the Krippendorf Lodge every year.

Service Reflection – 2020 

I co-oped at Ethicon Inc. during the Spring 2020 term. In addition to working, I had the opportunity to partake in many volunteer events. Ethicon highly encourages their employees to serve within the community. I volunteered at Matthew 25: Ministries where other co-ops and I sorted clothing donations. It was an excellent way to spend time with my peers outside of work. Ethicon also partners with Adopt a Class Foundation to introduce young students in the Cincinnati area to STEM-career opportunities. I helped with the packaging department where we developed lesson plans regarding medical device packaging to teach the visiting school. We were also able to have them participate in an egg drop experiment (they designed their own packages!). I learned a great amount about packaging from my fellow co-ops in packaging.

Another event that I helped to plan was held as an after-school virtual career/college panel to students at Loveland High School. I am a Loveland alum so I was excited to coordinate with my high school chemistry teacher. Us Ethicon employees who were on the panel planned background about Johnson & Johnson to share, background about our schools, majors, and work we did at the company. The high school students were able to learn about what engineering curriculum entails and possible routes to pursue in college. My favorite part of this event was giving out advice that I would’ve loved to hear when I was in high school.

 

 

 

 

Artifacts

What Made me Choose Engineering

I chose to participate in a two-year biotechnology course run through Cincinnati State. course A majority of my senior year of high school was spent working on my biotech capstone. The project was Nanotransfection in Saccharomyces cerevisiae which focused on drug delivery in a cancerous cell. The yeast served as the “tumor cell” and the solid lipid nanoparticles were the drug carriers of the “drug”, which was a plasmid for a green fluorescent protein. Once the plamid was conjugated to the nanoparticles, the uptake of the drug carrier was able to be visualized by the green fluorescence from the yeast, showing that the “drug” had entered the system. I have always loved science and knew I wanted to pursue a STEM degree. This capstone solidified my choice of biomedical engineering! Since then, I’ve changed my major to chemical engineering.

Fluorescent Green Glow of the Yeast Shows Transfection Success
Won 1st Place in the Med-Pharma Division!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall 2018 

Roomie Cali and I studying

A Biological Science Scholars event that I have taken part in since the beginning of the year is the study sessions that happen each month. These events allow me to study with friends and get a different viewpoint of the topics we study in class. I have been able to meet new friends in my dorm and other students that are in BioSci. The last one I went to was on October 15th, 2018, which allowed me to study for my chemistry midterm that happened the next day.

 

 

 

 

Spring 2019 

FarmBot in Action.mov

FarmBot Assembly

I enrolled in the first class of FABE 3200S where we implemented engineering projects at the Charles Nabrit Memorial Garden here in Franklin County. The relationship between the leaders of the garden and our class was developed over time through a shared passion of agriculture and helping those that need it most nearby. The garden is located in a low-income community that does not have easy access to healthy and affordable food. The USDA has stated that the area is “low income, low access” because a third of the residents there are low income and 13.2% of the residents in the area do not have access to a car. The nearest grocery stores to the area are the Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s at Easton. Because these stores are not affordable to the residents, food access is a crucial issue.

In addition to the development of curriculum plans for students in the Columbus area, our service-learning class focused on the development and assembly of a FarmBot and installation of a solar generator at the garden to utilize for summer day camps for children aged four to fourteen years old. To provide continuous engagement to students visiting the garden, exposure to robotics and open-source technology gives them early-on exposure to STEM topics and may spark interest for them to pursue a career in it in the future. The marriage of technology and agriculture is a new way to get students thinking about nutrition as well as the capabilities of technology to be used in the future with what they eat.

This experience is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. To say this was my favorite class I’ve taken at OSU is an understatement. We learned about community engagement frameworks, regenerative and resilient design principles, context and operations of urban farms, and renewable energy design. The hands-on engineering experience in this class is what made me positive I was in the right major and sparked my passion for humanitarian engineering.

Spring 2020

Last Day at Ethicon

Me With my Name Plate

This past Spring I co-oped at Ethicon Inc. My role was a Labeling Process Analyst Co-op. Within my department, I expedited internal processes through website design for the Repack-Relabel SharePoint sites for both Ethicon and DePuy Synthes. In addition to the work I did for my department, I was able to help around the building from design verification testing to cost-savings efforts. This gave me great exposure to our medical devices as well as strengthened my SolidWorks skills through fixture design. My favorite part of my co-op was the people. The culture of Johnson & Johnson is shaped by our credo and guides the company’s decisions. I met new friends through this co-op program and gained great mentorship from many individuals throughout the company. I learned to balance my time in a professional setting as I was working with multiple departments on different projects and learned the importance of networking and growing one’s support network. I gained leadership opportunities through classes I scheduled for fellow co-ops as well as opportunities within the company that I volunteered for. A skill that I didn’t expect to learn was remote communication – after the transition to remote work in March, there was a big shift in the projects I was able to work on. Communicating this with my manager and the teams I helped was of great importance to still get meaningful work and experience. I loved my time here and hope to return for another co-op at Johnson & Johnson in the future.