Giselle Ashby

What did you like best about the Engineering Management program?

I love the flexibility of this program! It focused heavily on technical development rather than soft skills. I also love the structure of the Engineering Management program’s classes. I was able to choose the structure that works best for me.

Tell us about the instructors.

The instructors in this program were intelligent, passionate, and knowledgeable about the subjects they taught. All of the instructors want their students to succeed. They created and fostered a warm environment where all ideas were welcomed and valued. They cared to get to know their students personally and were willing to help with anything whether related to the class topics or career advice. 

How did this program prepare you for your career?

I definitely feel that this program has prepared me for my career. One of the reasons that I sought a master’s degree is that I felt unprepared and lacked confidence in both my technical and soft skills. I was desperately looking for the “spark” in my life again. In 2020, I joined this major and I can proudly say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. 

Currently, I am job searching looking for a career in project management. All that I will need to know to be a manager has been covered in my lectures at UB through the Engineering Management program. These topics ranged from: stakeholders, team and collaboration, budget, ethics, requirements, schedules, and risk management. I loved that some of my classes overlapped by giving me an introduction to the topics and developed my soft skills, while other classes taught me the technical skills to carry out these tasks.

I also appreciate that we are given assignments in which we had to describe how we would handle real-world situations from the point of view of managers. This help us build our critical thinking and problem-solving skills and gave us real-world situational practice. We had to write our responses to these scenarios in the form of discussion boards and papers. There are no right or wrong answers for these questions and we have to justify our response. The skills I have accumulated throughout this major translated into my personal life instilling confidence, assertiveness, and open-mindedness. 

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Take advantage of the flexibility of the program and tailor your classes to what interests you. I would advise students to figure out their career path and find a faculty member in a similar field to get advice. It is best to choose your electives and capstone project on topics you are passionate about, relating to Engineering Management, in order to gain some first-hand knowledge in those areas as well as to be great additions to your resume and great talking points in interviews.