Alumni Profile

Mae Sementilli

My engineering background gave me the opportunity to work for a professional sports team and be able to help with the audio/visual equipment at my church. It has helped me be able to approach any problem calmly and make more informed decisions. I have also gotten to know some great people through engineering."

Where I've Been

Cities

  • Buffalo, NY

Organizations

  • Buffalo Sabres
  • University at Buffalo

Positions

  • Data Analytics Assistant
  • Teaching Assistant

What I've Done

What types of work have you performed? What projects have you worked on?
Data analytics, web scraping, databasing, student teaching, grading, worked on creating custom desktop application for interacting with a 3-axis force plate

What have been some favorite aspects of your work?
Having your solution work and other people being able to use your code or charts. Being able to tackle problems with a team, gaining new insights and perspectives from others.

What was one of your most satisfying days as an engineer?
Seeing the desktop application that I helped create being used in testing, having no errors and getting good feedback from the users.

Was it worth it? What has your engineering background made possible for you? What value has it added to your overall life?
Absolutely worth it. My engineering background gave me the opportunity to work for a professional sports team and be able to help with the audio/visual equipment at my church. It has helped me be able to approach any problem calmly and make more informed decisions. I have also gotten to know some great people through engineering.

Why it Matters

What would you say to the first-year students currently sitting in your shoes?
Thinking engineering is really cool, but I have no idea how hard it is going to be or what I would really be doing for a job after. Now as a graduate student in aerospace engineering, I still think engineering is really cool and have a little better idea what I will be doing for a job next year. However, I do know that whatever my job, there will always be more cool things to learn and experience.

It was worth all the hard work in undergrad to get to where I am now and I am so thankful for the advice and encouragement I got from my student leaders and professors. It is really rewarding to see problems solved and see your work being used in the 'real world'. It is still hard for me to believe that I am actually doing it. Keep working hard, but every once in a while step back and remind yourself of what makes engineering cool for you.