I became interested in engineering in high school when I was given the opportunity to participate in the Science Olympiad program. We designed, built, and tested various machines. Including a Rube Goldberg device, bottle rockets, and a miniature car powered by a falling weight. I was fortunate to have several inspirational mentors in high school through the Science Olympiad program. These included a host of physics graduate students and Dean Hudek, who is the Director of Instructional Laboratories at Brown University. He has a lab full of the most interesting physics demonstrations and contraptions. I enjoyed every hour spent in the machine shop and decided to pursue a career in engineering.

I decided to pursue a career in academia because I enjoyed teaching and mentoring students. In college, I had the opportunity to teach middle school and high school students about engineering and in graduate school, I had the opportunity to TA a class. Academia is just as much about learning as it is about teaching. You have freedom and the opportunity to pick which fields and topics you would like to learn more about.

My research is focused on connecting chemical structure with mechanical properties for different types of materials. You can visit my website for more information (www.mem.drexel.edu\capaldi).

My advice to students new to engineering, actually to any student on the cusp of his or her career, is to spend time talking with faculty. Join the engineering society in your area and talk to older students and during your co-op, talk to your colleagues. Everyone has a different story to tell, and something to teach you.

Read as much as you can. A few books I really enjoyed and would recommend include “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond, “The Blank Slate” by Steven Pinker, and “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell.