Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome to following the gong, a podcast for Schreier scholars bringing you mentoring on demand from scholar alumni. I'm your host Sean Goheen, and our guest today, joining us bright and early all the way from Portland, Oregon, is Apoorva Mather, a 2018 industrial engineering grad working in the electric vehicle development and transition space at Daimler Truck North America. Apoorva, thanks for joining us bright and early from the west coast.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you for having me.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: So I always like to start off our conversations here on following the gong with a baseline of what brought you to Penn State and the Shrier honors college as a scholar when you were picking your college.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Yeah. So it was actually a couple things. The first thing was I lived in Pennsylvania, so Penn State was always on the radar. A ton of my friends from school, their siblings had gone there. So it just, it was like the obvious choice to make sure that I apply. And then I heard about the honors college and I was like, I gotta apply to this too. So that was kind of how it started. But once I got accepted and I came to accepted student days, I actually had one of my seniors in high school. School had gone or was in the honors college. So he offered to kind of take us on a little extra tour when me and my parents arrived at Penn State. And just listening to him, like, rave about the school itself, the amenities from the honors college, the access to research, and you could just tell he was just so excited to be there. And I think that's the general feeling that you get when you're on campus at Penn State too, is the strong sense of school pride. And so it was hard to say no after that really bold display of enthusiasm.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: So, yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about as you look dressing behind me, what I'm wearing. No kidding. So, apoorvae, normally I ask questions about what you were involved with and things, but I'm going to delay those because I want to get right into the early stages of your career with, you had a ton of internships while you were here at Penn State.
You had ones in education, consulting, manufacturing. Can you just walk us through those first here, how you got them, why you picked them, and then, like, what all you were doing and took out of those experiences. So just walk us through those.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: My first real internship was actually before I even started at Penn State. I had been volunteering with an organization called Lehigh Valley Summer Bridge while I was in high school.
And when I was graduating, since I'd been volunteering there for three years, they said would you be interested coming back as a teacher for the summer program? And so that was my first internship.
I taught incoming 7th and 8th graders pre algebra and algebra, and so I had to, like, create lesson plans, figure out activities for them to do.
And it was just a lot of fun, but it was also a great learning experience as to what I wanted my, my future career to look like. So I came out of that kind of knowing that I didn't really want to go into education, but I had that strong passion for engineering, and so math and science and teaching that I knew I loved doing it. I just not in that forum. So then I got the chance with Schreier my freshman year to do an internship with the Malany foundation. And that was like a consulting education internship. So I felt like, okay, well, I have a little bit of background in education.
I think this is something that I could bring value to. And that was just something that the honors college had posted in. I think it was in Atherton.
They had partnered with the Malini foundation for different talks, and their CEO was looking for a couple interns. It was a really small nonprofit, and so I was like, why not? You know, like, why not get this extra experience? I've never worked for such a small nonprofit in this setting before. They were developing educational plans for women who lived in a lot of third world countries who didn't have access to that education. So it was also just a really interesting topic.
And so it was actually a part time internship during the semester. So that was also something unique.
And again, it taught me a lot of what do I like? What do I not like? So I kind of came out of that knowing, okay, again, interesting subject matter, but maybe not what I want to do. I felt like it was really small. You had a ton of responsibilities, even as an intern, because the company was just so tiny that you were taking on multiple roles to keep things going. And I just felt like that wasn't a. That wasn't the type of situation I wanted to move forward with.
So that was kind of like my entrance into internships and then coming into the college of engineering.
Penn State does such a great job of mentoring students into how to get to the career fair, talking to different recruiters, giving your elevator pitch, putting yourself out there. And so I just, you know, you know, jumped right in, went to the BJC for the first career fair, went to a bunch of different career fairs and the smeal college of Business, because as an ie, you also get, or I don't know if you still do, but at least at that point. You used to get access to those career fairs as well and interviewed with a ton of companies and got an internship with General Motors. And I was very excited, you know, a sophomore going into junior year, like, getting a true full internship and getting paid.
That was really nice. So it was a manufacturing engineering internship.
I actually would go to the different plants in the area in Michigan and check out their lubrication systems for their stamping plants. So that's, like, where they stampede, like, the body of the car or the doors and try to figure out where we could bring in process improvement. So it was really cool.
I was actually kind of filling in for a role that they had not hired for yet. And so I got a ton of freedom to meet a ton of people and build out my project plan.
Doing that internship is what got me into the automotive industry, is what got me into manufacturing. I, like, fell in love with it, fell in love with the culture, but that all came from just the BJC career fair. It wasn't anything crazy. I just kind of did my homework, knew where I wanted to go, give my pitch, and got the interview through there. And same thing with the Boeing internship the year after.
I knew they were a great manufacturing company, and at that point, knew I was really interested in pursuing manufacturing. So did the same thing, kind of decided I want to try something different to see if I wanted to stay in automotive or maybe go somewhere else.
And so did the rounds and got that internship with Boeing. And ultimately, it taught me that I didn't want to go into aerospace, that I did love automotive more, but that was really helpful.
Yeah, that's. It was all through the main career fair.
I mean, I did all the other ones, too, but it was really the one at the BJC that got me both of them.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: So that's awesome. And I love when people talk about an internship to help them discover something they didn't want to do. Like you wanted to keep your proverbial feet or tires, I guess, on the ground, right, with the automotive. So you talked about manufacturing.
Was that something like chicken and egg here?
How did you discover that that was something that you wanted to pursue? You come into Penn State engineering. Walk us through how you figured out which major, because there's so many great options in the college of engineering, which one was for you, and then how do you discovered manufacturing operations and analysis. That was what you wanted to do.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: Yeah. So I actually came into Penn State thinking I wanted to go into biomedical engineering because I had a strong interest in the medical industry.
But I got the chance my freshman year to do I forget what I think it was called rise. It was a research program, and so they helped place freshmen students into research labs that coordinated with their interests. So I got placed in a biomedical engineering lab.
And again, it was one of those things. I was there for a few months, and I was like, this is not what I expected it to be. And I think that's really important is, you know, when you come into college, like you said, Penn State has so many engineering disciplines, a lot of times you don't really understand how that translates into the real workforce and what that means when it comes to career. And so that was the case for me, right? In theory, it sounded great, but then when I was actually in the lab doing the work and talking to students, talking to professors, understanding what the future would look like, I was like, this isn't for me.
And so I think I was really lucky to have that experience so early on, because then I quickly started speaking to a ton of other engineers, and I actually lived in the globe while I was at Penn State. So we had a ton of engineers in our special living option and a ton of upperclassmen. So I was like, what do you do? Like, what do you like? What do you not like? And one of the students that was in the globe, she was doing industrial engineering, and she had actually just interned for a medical device company in Wisconsin.
And she started telling me, she's like, oh, well, you know, like, industrial engineering is more process based, so you can kind of go into any field you want. There's no restrictions.
I was like, oh, that sounds really cool. Like, that opens a lot of doors. And so I started looking more into it and realized that that fit best for what I wanted to do moving forward.
And then at Penn State, we do have quite a focus on manufacturing. It's the industrial and manufacturing engineering program. So we have this amazing facility inside the IE building that has a ton of different equipment that's focused on different manufacturing processes.
You inevitably, you know, you definitely learn about it. You get to interact with it. And so it made sense to at least try it and understand whether or not I liked it. I know a ton of my other friends and cohorts went into, like, consulting or more of a systems engineering role, and that's also very common for ies, but at least you get the option to see everything. And then an internship, of course, lets you try it and understand whether you like it or not. And that's what ended up happening in my case.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: Excellent and you talked about the research there. And one of the things you took out of that first experience was, hey, this is not the major for me. I'm not going to be happy doing this. Let me try find some other things. But you found some additional research opportunities with some different labs, different faculty. Can you talk about what those experiences were and maybe if they impacted your thesis or your career so far, or even just something fun that you learned by going to a second lab?
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
So after I came out of that first lab, I liked the experience of doing research. It was just the topic that was, that didn't fit. So I started to put together meetings, sending emails to professors in the IE lab asking if they had any spots open for a sophomore engineer that was looking to kind of learn more about industrial engineering. And so Doctor Freywalds responded, and he works in human factors engineering, so he looks at how we interact at different products and how we can improve the design of those products to be more intuitive for people that are working with them. So whether that be tools on a factory floor or your cell phone or your laptop, anything like that. And so I started working with him, and it was actually a great experience because he brought me in. He started me off small with some projects. So I helped put together a website for Geisinger for the nursing group, I think it was.
And it was just an idea of like, understanding your customers needs. Like, what do they need? What are they looking for? How do they want to interact with this platform? And then helping them build that and then going into, okay, like, now that you have the hang of it, let's put you on a different project. And so he paired me up with one of his grad students who was working on looking at different effects of exercise. And so he had like a whole series of tests that he was doing for his PhD.
And he was looking at a lot of the physical effects of like, under desk bikes or elliptical machines, or like doing exercise in different of times and things like that. And so I worked with him for two years on that research, while also helping doctor fraywalds with a few other projects. And that's how I got my idea for my thesis, was I noticed that, you know, Jay was working so heavily on the physical effects, and while we would help him with all those tests, I was like, I wonder if this has effect on your mental stimulation, right? So we're focusing so much on how the body is reacting, how does the brain react to this exercise? So while you're working, if you are exercising at the same time, does it decrease your productivity? Does it increase it? Is there no effect at all? It's just all purely physical benefit.
And so I just discussed that with doctor fabels, and he was like, that's a great idea. It builds off of what you were already doing in the lab. And so he helped me get funding.
It was actually a really cool process because I had to go through this whole thing. I was going to do a human trial, and that's not very common.
So you have to go through a ton of paperwork to talk about, like, is everything you're doing ethical? Is it, like, all above board? And there's a huge approval process. But once we got it, then I was good to go on recruiting people to come in and test for my experiment. And, yeah, it was a great experience. And it did cross over into my manufacturing experience because working with people on the shop floor, understanding how things work for them, whether it be how they're holding a tool or maybe it's a process step, if it's exerting too much pressure or something, it gave a lot of insight there and just on, like, physical and mental well being in the workplace. So, yeah, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed working in his lab and I think pushed me to continue in manufacturing.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: I love that. And I think you were a little bit ahead of your time because you graduated in 2018, like I said at the opening. And I feel like since then, we've had more and more conversations in like, LinkedIn and the zeitgeist around mental health and the workplace and well being and stuff. So you were. You were a little bit of a trailblazer there. I love it. So outside of all of these internships, lab experience, you, in true shrier scholar fashion, you also found time to be involved with some activities on campus. Can you talk about those opportunities and how they impacted you, both professionally, but also personally, and really helped you round out your experience here?
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So I like a lot of other things at Penn State, started with trying a ton of different clubs the first year and tried to figure out which ones I liked, didn't like, went to all the meetings, they had the huge club fair on the hublon. And so thought I'd try a bunch of things out and see where I fitzgerald and got involved with over my four years, got involved mainly with two big organizations. One was Penn State Infusion, which is they put on a Bollywood dance competition every year on campus. And so they invite nine teams from across the country to compete. And I had danced ever since I was little. So Bollywood dancing was a big part of my life, but it wasn't something that I necessarily wanted to continue doing in college, but wanted to still kind of be a part of it. And so this was a good kind of middle ground, was I still got to interact with the dancers, see what was going on, help put on this great show every year, but didn't dance myself. And so I was really involved with that all four years. And then also I joined engineering ambassadors.
I think it might have been at the end of my sophomore year, but loved it because, like I said, I did a lot with education, you know, out of high school, and just loved talking to prospective scholars about what and students about what I loved about Penn State and giving the tours and showing them around the engineering campus, sharing my story like I am today.
And so it was just really fulfilling to be able to help them in making their decision, just like my friend had done when I was graduating from high school. And so I loved that we used to do outreach programs with the local schools, so different STEM outreach, teach them about engineering and different science concepts, and that was really fun.
And then I was really involved with Showtime as well. So I did. I was a showtime mentor for multiple years, as well as part of that program.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: So, yeah, so going back to earlier in our conversation, Apoorva, you talked about you went to the career fair at the BJC, and that was how you found GM. And then the next year, you did Boeing to try and diversify your experiences, really figure out, you know, what resonates with you. So what was it about the automotive experience at GM that you connected with? And you were like, this is the type of industry that I want to work in, knowing that it is a big, big part of manufacturing to build cars. So what was it that really resonated with you? And you said, I want to go down this path.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: The big thing was the technology and the pace of work.
I think it was actually really good for me to work at Boeing because it is a very different pace in industry. You know, obviously, your volume is much lower and technology is, of course, moving just as quickly. But it had a different feeling, and it's hard to describe, but the automotive industry, when I was a part of it, you could just tell, like, things were changing. And now we can see, of course, like, we're going through this huge transition to zero emissions vehicles. And so you could tell there was a lot of change coming. There was a lot of new projects coming into focus.
And it was just such a fast pace. Like, there was just constantly activity on the factory floor, in the offices. And so I think it was just that culture that really brought me in. And being able to be part of, like, that next biggest thing, it's so exciting.
And that's, you know, that's what I get to do today in my job. And so it's what keeps me going and what has kept me in the automotive industry. So I think that just, like, constant change, constant reinvention is just very clear when you look at the automotive industry.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: I think that's very helpful to hear, because there are individuals who definitely, probably like the more steady consistency of maybe airline, because it's not every day a new plane is designed, but cars. There's a. A new model year every year with cars. And especially, like you said, moving to EV's and other non combustion engine drive systems. I know exactly what I'm talking about, I swear.
So, you know, I got a really good chuckle looking at your LinkedIn, and that's probably not a sentence that's ever been said, but you started at Daimler in wait for a career training program, and the letters car are fully capitalized. It's a great pudding, like Opp with on.
What was that program like? How did you get into that applying? And then what was that early training program? You know, not every company offers that, but it is a good opportunity to start out. Tell us about that.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: Yeah, so, as I was kind of coming into my senior year at Penn State, I knew I wanted to go into automotive at that point. I started looking up every automotive company. They don't all come to Penn State. We only have a few that come and recruit. So it took a little bit of work in reaching out to the different automotive companies and also understanding what kind of programs they had available for recent graduates. And so Daimler had this program career. And so the thing that I really liked about career was that it was a global rotational program, which was something that was unique. So a lot of the different rotational programs that were being offered at the time, you know, you stay within the US, you'd maybe travel within sites, or even some of them, you know, if most of their work was done at one major site, you just kind of rotate between groups. But this program gave you the opportunity to travel anywhere. And so that was really exciting. So when I got accepted, it was like a no brainer to come on board, and it really helped me get onboarded into the company. It really helped me experience different groups, meet a ton of people, and has helped me a lot in my career here at Daimler.
Because, so I started out in Detroit with my first rotation, but then I got to work in Germany for a few months. I got to come out to our north american headquarters here in Portland for a few months, and then I even got to do a couple of, like, shadow weeks in different facilities. So I went, we have plants down in the Carolinas. I went down there.
And so it was just this chance to see so much of our company on a global stage, because we are a global company and interact with so many people. And now, you know, a few years further down the road in my career, I'm able to kind of continue building on those kinds of connections that I made in that training program, which has been great.
Plus, the nice thing was that they did specialized trainings for us throughout the program. So we were a class of, I think, probably 30 to 40 trainees, and so we would get to do these trainings as well together as a class. That was really nice, kind of knowing that you were coming into this company with a group of other people and not alone.
[00:25:24] Speaker A: So, yeah, so you've mentioned Daimler, and I definitely said Daimler earlier.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: That's okay. It's common, common pronunciations.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: So this is in no way sponsored by them. That's just where you work and your experiences. But can you tell us, like, what are the brands that those watching or listening would be more likely to know? Because that's kind of like the mothership. You're nothing around driving a Daimler car like you would like a Chrysler or Chevy or Toyota. So what are the brands that we would know both in the kind of the consumer or the industrial commercial spaces that might actually stick out to us that helped frame the rest of our conversation.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So Daimler actually split, I want to say, a year or two ago into two main distinctions.
Their car division and then their commercial vehicle division. And a lot of people are probably very familiar with the car brand, Mercedes Benz. So that was the car under the Daimler umbrella. And so that is now its own entity. But we still have the Mercedes, Ben's logo, trucks in Europe, so still the very recognizable logo just on a commercial vehicle instead of a car. But here in North America, we have a couple different brands.
Once you hear about them, you'll see them everywhere. It's just you probably haven't heard of them because they aren't consumer driven vehicles. So Freightliner is one of our main brands for our long haul trucks on highway products. And then we have western star as well for more of our vocational products. So that's like construction vehicles. If you think about it, Thomas built buses. So those are school buses.
And then FCCCC is our brand that does a lot of customized walk in vans. So those are like your ups, FedEx, like, walk in delivery vans that you will probably see everywhere. So once you start looking, you'll see it everywhere. But, yeah, they're not the most recognizable brands for the common person.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Awesome. And let's talk a little bit more about that, because you said in leading up, like, there's all. You throw out some terms here. So, like, there's commercial industrial heavy duty delivery. Like, what are all the, what are the differences in those? Because, you know, let's break down some of the industry jargon for anybody who's, like, interested in the cardinal folks or just generally likes learning stuff, because shire scholars are lifelong learners. So why don't you channel that early internship and teach us some of this?
[00:28:20] Speaker B: Yeah, so our, our portfolio spans a ton of different, I call it commercial vehicles because it's not your common passenger vehicle that you or I would drive every day to work. Right. It's something that's being used for a business. And so a lot of the big tractor trailers that you see on the highway are being used to transport many of the goods that we use every day. Right. So anything, you know, we like to say, anything in the room that's with you, the clothes that you're wearing, they were all, they all got to somehow, and that was most likely on a truck.
And so those trucks are usually managed by fleets. And so this is a business for them. And so that's why, you know, we kind of classify them as commercial vehicles, I guess.
But that's what we produce is these, these trailers. But in addition, we have these school buses. So that's a big source of pride as well. You know, we're making sure that we are getting children to school safely.
And so that's down in the Carolinas, we have our production plant for the school buses, the walk in vans, the delivery vehicles we were talking about with our other brand. Those are, I mean, it's just very short distances. So it's not like your long tractor trailers. They're not going hundreds of miles every day to get country. Those are just like local routes. Kind of like school buses in a way. Like very local, very short routes, just kind of going from their main facility to get to your house to deliver your mail or your packages.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: The supply chain folks would say last mile. Right?
[00:30:14] Speaker B: Last mile delivery. Exactly. Yes. So we span, I think, the whole supply chain, essentially, of logistics and delivery when it comes to the vehicle. So, yeah, very big industry in the US because we rely so heavily on trucking to get our goods and services. So it's a very important factor. We like to say we keep the world moving. That's our slogan.
And during the pandemic, that was definitely a big thing. I think working for the trucking industry, you felt that sense of pride making sure that those medical supplies, vaccines were getting out to the people that needed it, to the hospitals. And knowing that we were part of that, that was, I think, really impactful.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: So, awesome.
Now, kind of going back a few questions, I feel like we're trying to not having a very linear, linear supply chain in our questions, but isn't that always the case? So, you know, you go through this training program, the early career, whoever there came up with that genius, love it. So what is, you know, talk us through, you know, you got through this program and then you have to pick some kind of role, right? I'm sure.
How do you graduate out of that program and then walk us through, like, what did you do in your first, like, full job? Once you're like, okay, I'm out of this trainee program.
I'm this now?
[00:31:51] Speaker B: Yeah. So I, when I came back after finishing all my rotations, I was actually placed into my first role in Detroit, which was as a process implementation engineer.
Essentially what that translates to is that I was helping implement new projects onto the plant floor. So, you know, if we had, I was working in the powertrain division at the time, so if we had a new powertrain component that was going to be released and it was either being released into an existing manufacturing line or we were going to build a new manufacturing line for it, then I would be there to support in terms of what the process would look like, you know, what the people would look like to run that kind of process and help all the teams involved to make sure that we were staying on track to get the project completed in time. So that was my first role.
And so it was very on the floor, very process based, very back to the roots to, like, my ie, education. And so I loved it. I loved being on the manufacturing role and interacting with the shop floor.
It's just, it's a very dynamic environment and you just meet great people and there's never a slow day on the plant floor. So that's exciting when you're starting off. But that's how I, that was my first role and kind of how I got placed into it.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: So obviously there's a lot of individuals who work on that floor. Both. There are college grads, and then there's folks who are lifelong, you know, blue collar, for lack of a better word, folks who are working on that floor. UAW workers, probably. And how do you as like a fresh faced college grad trainee program graduate, gain the respect of somebody who's been working in the manufacturing setting for 10, 20, 30 years?
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a great question. And you have a ton of lifers that are out there who've been working on these products their whole lives. You know, they have family members who worked on these lines as well. And so you come in not knowing much and then trying to tell them what to do.
I always took the approach of standing back and asking a ton of questions. I knew that I didn't know better than them in terms of the product most times, like they were the expertise, and I actually needed their help most of the time to maybe understand what was working, what wasn't working. We were just there with a proposal. That's kind of how I saw it was. We're coming in with this proposal. We have to get this product launched. But you guys are the experts in terms of, you've been doing this for so long, you know, the product, you know, the different processes that have been, have worked and not worked in the past. So tell me, like, how I can be of help to make sure that this next product is also a success. And so I think when you take that stance of you're the student, right, and help teach me what's right and wrong, it does help you gain that respect much better, because they can see that you're not just coming in as someone who is trying to impose something on them without understanding. So that's what I did, and I felt like it worked really well. And it also helped me build really good relationships with the people on the floor that then lasted much longer than just the project. So, you know, if you're trying to, we spend so much of our lives at work, it's important to create those relationships and feel welcome in your workplace. And so I think some people don't see that opportunity to connect with the shop floor as another way to create those relationships. But I always loved being able to go out on the floor and kind of see how everyone is doing.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: That is really helpful advice, I think, for any new college grad, especially. And there's plenty of other areas, too, and other industries where something is very comparable or applicable. So definitely listen to Aporva's really good advice there.
Now, I'm sure you know, when you started, you're probably working on a lot of combustion engine products, but now you're helping with the transition of these industrial commercial vehicles to EV or otherwise not emission. What was the phrase that you used? Zero emissions, whether it's hydrogen or something else.
And so I'm not going to claim to be an expert in these things. So a couple of questions here. So, like what? How does that work on both the vehicles? Like, these are traditionally big, probably diesel or gas burning engines, and you're trying to. So you have to change the product itself, but then you have to change the assembly line, and then you're also dealing with the aforementioned shop floor, the assembly line workers who have been doing XYZ for decades, their family. Now you're changing how these things are built.
Just guide us through what is this transformation like in all of these different facets for you? Help enlighten, because I think we often think of this switch to EV and, like sedans and suv's, like, you see, like. But, you know, probably the trucks and buses are going to be a huge impact on reducing emissions, I imagine.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: Yeah, it is definitely a huge impact on lowering carbon emissions overall as part of this transition. And it is a little bit more difficult because of the types of applications that we talked about earlier. Right.
For the shorter distances, the shorter routes, like the school buses and the walk in vans, electric is a little bit easier because it's short routes.
So you're not as concerned about range and you have more time to charge. So all of those factors kind of contribute to making those applications a lot more of a success.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: They're almost like a roomba where they kind of like go out, deliver their stuff and come back to home base at the end of the day.
[00:38:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that analogy. I'm going to use it next time.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: You're welcome. All yours.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: But, yeah, exactly. So you have this home base where you can come back and charge and you have multiple chances to do that. So it really feeds well into the EV powertrain system, whereas the long haul trucks are a little bit different. Right.
They're used to going for hours and, you know, they are all diesel engines. So you get on the road, you're driving for hours, you stop, you quickly refill, and then you get back out there. And so, and like I said, for a lot of our customers, you know, well, for all of our customers, these are businesses that they're running. So every minute on the road is time and money that is going towards their business. And so therefore, switching to electric can be a lot more difficult because charging times are still pretty high.
And so you can't just stop and refill in ten to 15 minutes and then get back on the road. And so we're working with a lot of our customers to find the right applications, and we know that EV is not the right application for everything. And so we're starting with, you know, we started with test fleets in the beginning with some of our key customers and then moved to, we have an e consulting team.
So they, if anyone is interested in buying these vehicles, they come to us and we help them understand in what situations these trucks would work for them. And so that's kind of how. How we're moving. It is not exactly like the passcar industry, but we're still moving pretty quickly. I would say we have the vehicles out there. We have the product available, the technology is there. It's just a matter of kind of, I would say, getting a better understanding of what use cases are working versus not working, and then also doing our best to stay up with the technology as it quickly progresses and hopefully allows us to then continue to have those applications. And we are looking at every, like you said, everything, not just electric. We're looking at hydrogen, looking at different types of hydrogen. So we're looking at any zero emissions technology because we know that in our industry, it's not going to be a one size fits all.
We have a great team that I work for here that works on all those different technologies and is doing their best to figure out the different types of vehicles that would coordinate with that. And we work. I think it's really cool that we get to work so closely with our customers to try to figure out what is the right thing moving forward, because ultimately, this is for them and their businesses and to help decarbonize that overall. So, yeah, it's a bit of a different approach. Right. Normally, like, you aren't talking directly to, like, a GM or Ford or something like that, being like, this is what I need.
Can you help me figure that out? But in our case, like, we get to do that a lot more, which is really nice.
But the pass car industry is going through the same transition. I think they're having some of the same difficulties and challenges because, you know, you're also used to quick refueling times and not having to worry about stopping on a long car drive or road trip. You're used to getting out there as quickly as you can. And so they're dealing with some of those same challenges when it comes to customer expectations.
But I think the technology will get there.
[00:42:30] Speaker A: So awesome. And then how are you working with the, you know, both the companies and then also your, you know, your shop floor assembly line workers to understand this transition and help with the adoption and change your processes to go from diesel parts to hydrogen or battery or the different components of an electric or otherwise non emissions spewing powertrain.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: The best way is we're not stopping any one thing. Diesel is still needed for our customers to run their businesses on a daily basis. So that's still very much a part of our business because it's something that our customers need.
It's not going away immediately. It's more that as we continue to produce what we've been producing for so long, we're also at the same time bringing and ramping up these new technologies and working with our engineering teams, working with our production shop floor to get those processes started in place, ramped up.
And then we'll see the transition over the next few years. Hopefully. Hopefully you'll see maybe an increase in volumes of these different emission vehicles. But that doesn't mean diesel is going away because it's still very much something that's necessary to keep things moving.
[00:44:04] Speaker A: Is it fair to say, I think right around when this is dropping, summer Olympics are happening soon or just happened, but you watch a track meet and they've got the relay races and there's that like ten meter length where they have to hand off the baton. Right. So it feels like we're kind of in that space right now. Is that fair where you're doing both at once?
[00:44:26] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we're doing both at once. It's not one or the other. It's a combined effort to get our customers what they need, whether it be for their businesses to match regulation needs.
All those different requirements are out there and all these technologies are working together to get them there.
[00:44:49] Speaker A: Awesome. Now, in that same vein, what is something that you wish the average consumer, or especially like a shrier scholar who's studying anything relevant to this in school or faculty doing research on this, that you wish that they would better understand about EV's or zero emission vehicles and especially like these large ones, trucks, buses, etcetera, that you're working on?
[00:45:16] Speaker B: That's a good question.
I think there's a lot going on around us, and I think the biggest thing I've learned over the last few years while being part of this transition is that you have to consider every type of technology.
There's a lot of new technologies coming out that we have to stay on top of and understand. And so it is like any scholar, you're constantly learning and doing your best to learn more about the industry. And it's not just about the vehicles. It's also about the infrastructure. So you have all the charging stations and building those out. It's about the grid infrastructure. So our grids support us on a daily basis, providing electricity to our homes, to our businesses.
But now they also have this added stress of supporting charging infrastructure and so trying to grow the resiliency there as well to be able to support this mass transition from both industries. Right, passenger car and commercial vehicles to EV. Now you need a lot more support on the grid as well. So it's not just one company or one player, one industry working by itself.
What I've learned is that it involves everyone and more so than it ever has in the past. So, you know, we work with anything that touches. We work with utility companies. We're working with our customers. We're working with charging companies. We're working with so many different industries to make sure that this is a successful transition.
And that is, I think that's something that people have probably seen in the news. There's a ton more partnerships. Automotive companies are partnering with other companies to make sure that customers are getting what they need when it comes to charging, when it comes to infrastructure.
And so that's a trend that you'll continue to see, is that we understand we can't do this alone. And so that's really important to remember. And I think maybe as someone who works in any industry, sometimes, you know, you realize that these partnerships, no matter what industry you're working in, can prove to be really helpful to bring everyone forward rather than trying to do something by yourself in a silo.
[00:48:01] Speaker A: Amazing. I think that really rings true. And if you're interested on some of that element with the infrastructure and the charging, go back. When you're done watching this, go back and listen to our episode with Paul Suey that was from our audio only era, but he's doing some really cool stuff in New York with revel and charging in urban environments. So if this is of interest to you, go back and listen to that when you're done with this episode. Now, Porva, for scholars who are interested in this space, what skills classes, experience or the like, should they be looking to work in now as scholars, if they want to do things with EV's or manufacturing, product and process development, that they can start now as scholars so that they can set themselves up for success like you did, obviously, I love.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: My industrial engineering college and my professors there. And I think the program is great that they have in manufacturing and in process engineering. And so, you know, take those classes. I would say I really enjoyed anything I could do hands on.
I think it helps you so much more in understanding what your company is doing when you get there. So being able to use that facility to its fullest and learn how all those machines work.
When I tell other people at work that, you know, Penn State has this huge lab, and I got to learn how to operate a CNC machine, I got to do casting, they're amazed. You know, not everyone has that kind of facility on their campus. And so I'd say, like, take advantage of that, get in one of those labs. Even I took a class with Doctor Rothrock on it was actually, again, with Geisinger.
We had to develop an app for them. And so again, like getting a chance to work with a customer and understand their needs and build something out for them that they can use on a daily basis. I mean, these are basic foundation building blocks that apply to any job. And so your customer might not always be the end user. It might be someone else further downstream in your company that needs something from you. But learning how to listen within your role and then providing the right thing, that's something that you learn through these classes. Working on these group projects, you're always going to be working on group projects. I think that's something that maybe a lot of college students don't realize when they're graduating. It's like, okay, well, you know, like, you have the choice to work on this alone or in a group project. It's group project for life. After you graduate, you are constantly working with other people. You will always need someone's support with something. And so getting that skill up front and understanding how to work in that environment is important.
I think specifically, if you're looking at the automotive industry and EV's and hydrogen and all this new technology, I think the best thing you can do is the first thing is self educate, understand the industry, talk to alumni, talk to different experts. Experts.
And then I know that there are probably classes on campus at this point that have some sort of relationship with that.
I know electrical engineering, of course. You know, if you get that background in electrical engineering, we need ee's to help us with our battery technology and our charging technology. And so if that's something that you specifically want to work on, kind of the path that you'd want to go down.
And so on the automotive side, though, I think it just kind of depends on where you're coming from. But there's all sorts of engineers that work in that field. You have manufacturing engineers. You have mechanical engineers.
You know, of course, we have supply chain experts, purchasing experts. So, you know, it's a, it's an automotive company, and there's a lot of engineers, but there's a lot also. So not engineers. You need the business experts, the supply chain experts. You need all of that as well. So if you have that interest, it's like just getting out there and talking to those companies. You can usually find a way to get your foot in the door.
[00:52:39] Speaker A: Amen to all of that. Porva. And then also, shameless plug for another past episode with our. We've got some alumni who work at Toyota NGM in lobbying. So even for the liberal arts grads, right? Political science, economics, psychology, there's places for you, too.
Now, you've talked, you've named, dropped quite a few places. We said at the beginning, you're currently in Portland. You just moved there at the time of recording this. I've heard the word Detroit a few times, and you've also mentioned the Carolinas, Germany, and obviously you are from Pennsylvania originally. So you've moved around quite a bit in your career. What advice do you have for scholars whose careers may take them to different locations that they've never been to before, never lived in, whether that's a student who maybe grew up outside of Philly and moves to Pittsburgh for a job or to another state or even to another country.
[00:53:35] Speaker B: Moving isn't easy, but it's exciting. And I think especially early in your career, it's a lot easier as well.
It gives you a lot of opportunity to see outside of your location and to meet people that you then normally wouldn't meet. So that was a huge benefit of traveling and moving for my job, I'd say after so many moves, I've learned that the most important thing is that when you get to a new place, really establish your local community, it helps you kind of settle into the area. It helps you give that sense of support.
You're able to then focus more on your daily life rather than, you know, external. We talk about mental health and well being. Having that local support system is really important wherever you go. And so, you know, join. It's as cheesy as it might, you know, sound like joining clubs, workout classes, even just talking to coworkers about what they do and how you can get involved that way because they potentially have lived in that location for much longer than you have. And then just getting out and exploring. When I was in Germany, I took advantage of the location and being so close to a bunch of different cities and just traveled every weekend somewhere new because it was so much more inexpensive than you going on a european vacation and trying to do all of that jet hopping. And so take advantage of your experiences. Some might be shorter than others. So for my rotation, it's just a few months here and there. So I just kind of, like, dove right in and did as much as I could.
And then some were longer moves, like Detroit and Portland. And so then it was more about just establishing my community and getting to know the area and getting to know the people.
But, yeah, it isn't easy, but I think it's worth it.
You have to put in the time, put in the effort to make yourself comfortable, but change is good, and so it gives you new perspectives. And I've really enjoyed that aspect of, of my career.
[00:56:08] Speaker A: Great advice there.
Now, Apoorva, you are a pretty well regarded mentor. In our mentoring with honors program, we've gotten great feedback from past mentees of yours. You've given back your time and talent, not just here on this podcast, but again through that one on one coaching with current scholars. What do you think makes for a successful mentor mentee relationship?
[00:56:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is open communication. I have mentors as well, and just being able to be honest with them about what you need from them, that's what I at least always try to do with my mentees. And the honors college program is, you know, this time is for you. So tell me what you need. Tell me where you need help and whatever it might be, right? Like, it doesn't always have to be something huge. It doesn't have to be a big topic. You know, career changes and internship advice is always good. But even the small things, like, we were talking about moving from place to place, different classes, just small things. I know I've asked my mentors for advice on time management skills when going into different roles.
Things like that where you might not think about asking a mentor. You might think that everything has to be this, like, very big topic, but it's those small conversations that can also help that mentorship grow.
And just having someone to talk to. So sometimes it's just about having someone that's in a workplace environment, someone who's not your direct boss. Just having someone else to talk to and go through situations is very helpful in more of a personal environment. You know, having someone outside of your normal group of friends or family to discuss a situation with can also be really helpful. It gives you, again, a new perspective. And so I'd say, like, I'd encourage people who are in mentor mentee relationships. You know, if you feel like either, you know, you're struggling to guide the mentorship in a direction or you feel like you're running out of topics, kind of go back to the basics. Just, you know, it's okay to ask whatever's on your mind, but come prepared. I think that's the biggest thing I try to do, and I see that my mentees do as well, is like, you want to show up to that, whatever that conversation is with at least something in mind or a couple things in mind, to at least give both people the chance to have that conversation.
If you show up and you're just expecting it to go somewhere, it might not work out, especially in a new mentor mentee relationship. If you've had it for several years, then yeah, you know, then it's a different story.
I still stay in touch with one of my mentors from back when I was at Penn State State, and I can text her, call her, and it's different in the sense that we've known each other for a while now, so that conversation can flow a lot more easily. If it's newer, then you want to have a little bit more structure just so that you can continue to build that relationship and grow it.
[00:59:28] Speaker A: I think that is solid advice, no matter what stage of your career, whether you're a first year scholar or you've been out of school for 40 years. So I will amen to all of that.
And I'm sure one of the things that you talked about with your mentor or some of your mentors is school. So you're still early in your career, but you've found time for more schooling. Shocker. Just like so many of our scholar alumni go on to earn additional degrees, whether at Penn State or numerous other great institutions.
What prompted you to pursue a master's, and how did you decide what specific discipline was best for you, given your career trajectory, and then which school was best for you to do that program?
[01:00:16] Speaker B: Yeah, so I waited until I wanted to give myself a break. That was part of the plan, was I wanted to get into the workforce.
I wanted to kind of give myself some time off from school, but I knew I wanted to get a masters at some point. And so when my trainee program kind of started coming to a close, I started thinking about whether or not that was something I wanted to pursue at that point or if I wanted to wait longer and I actually took, I used a lot of those relationships I'd made the workplace to kind of ask other people who were going through that process what they would recommend. And I got a lot of feedback that, you know, do it sooner rather than later.
Things get busier as you progress throughout your career, and it can get harder to spend that time on school and really get the most out of it.
And so I was like, all right, well, it helped. A lot of my Penn State friends were in grad school at the time, too. So that was also very motivating. But kind of getting that feedback of, you know, if you have the time and you have the interest right now, now's a good time to do it because you're still early in your career and you can still give that time that's needed to do a program part time especially. So that was, that was something that was important for me, is that I wanted to continue working while doing my degree. And so getting that feedback about specifically that process was good.
Doing it part time allowed my company to then help pay for it, which is also what was a big motivator of me, doing it part time.
[01:02:11] Speaker A: Always get somebody else to pay for your grad program. Obviously, med school and law school are a little different, but like traditional graduate programs, always get somebody else to pay for it. Let's take that away from this conversation. So, good for you.
[01:02:27] Speaker B: Yes, always, if you can have someone else pay for it, get someone else to pay for it.
And so I said, okay, well, I know I want to do a part time program.
I think now is the best time to do it. And so I started looking at what might be of interest.
Still very much enjoyed my IE background, still very much enjoyed manufacturing and process.
But there were a lot of new trends coming up in that area, and one of them was data analytics and the use of big data in the manufacturing environment in industry 4.0, which is a buzzy term for trying to incorporate big data, artificial intelligence, all these different types of technology into manufacturing to make it more efficient, more productive, more quality, higher quality.
But that was a big topic at that time. And so I did some research, tried to understand if that was something that I'd be interested in learning more about and coming from the shop floor as I did my background research, thought, oh, you know, I can really see a lot of uses for this in our plant environment. And so I can see myself being able to, like, directly apply what I'm learning as I'm learning it, which was, to me, really, I felt like if I was going to do a master's while I was working, then the best way to utilize it would be to be able to use it while I was working. And so I looked at different programs. Georgia Tech had a great program. I had looked at them for undergrad as well. They had a great engineering college, and so I knew they were good at what they did. Good feedback on the program.
Also, the cost did play a factor. It was less expensive than some of the other programs because it was geared towards the working professionals doing the program hard time. So that was very helpful because they actually had conditions. Like you couldn't take more than two classes a semester unless you pitched it to them that it was a good idea for you, too, because they wanted to make sure that you weren't overdoing it for yourself in a semester and really, you know, being able to take the full benefit of the classes you were taking. A. So it was a well thought out program for a part time program. And so I really liked that, too. And so when I got in, I went with that option and I, weird timing. Did not know obviously it was going to happen, but started January of 2020.
I had a ton of time after work to just sit and do my master's program because there wasn't much else to do. And so it worked out in that way. But yeah, finished in, I think three years, finished at the end of 2022.
And yeah, I'm happy I did it when I did.
I learned a lot. I was able to apply it as I was using it. And then I've also been, been able to apply it within my role, my roles after that as well, because data is involved in everything and so you can find different ways to help it guide your projects and make them more efficient, whether or not you're on the manufacturing floor.
[01:06:03] Speaker A: Awesome.
Now, obviously you're pretty busy full time role for a while there, you're in school and you've talked about finding your community, whether that's in Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Portland, wherever life takes you, watching or listening where it's taking you. Apoorva. So what strategies did you use or do you use to find work life balance as an early career professional? That would be helpful for scholars, especially for those who are about to or just entered the workforce themselves.
[01:06:37] Speaker B: Work life balance. There's so many terms for it. The most important thing to remember is that within every day, you need time for yourself, whatever that looks like. And it's not wrong to love what you do and to want to maybe come home and finish something up that doesn't mean that you're going outside of the work life balance, boundary boundaries. It just might mean that, you know, sometimes you get the idea for a presentation at 08:00 at night instead of while you're sitting at work at 02:00 right. And so that's okay, but it's just important to make sure that if you are going to.
I can't. There was a really good term that one of my mentors used, and I can't remember right now, but to have that flexibility internally, you know, if I need to do things that work that maybe aren't work, first of all, is that acceptable? Is that okay?
And then, you know, if you need to get it done, then get it done. That's, you know, whether that be going for a walk for like 20 minutes or maybe you need to schedule something.
A lot of those small things, it's okay if you have to do them during the work day and then you do, maybe you catch up on work later. That's employers, I think, understand, and especially with what we've all been through the last few years with the pandemic, they understand how important that flexibility is. And so you're not necessarily always going to be fully productive for 8 hours of a block a day. It's going to come and go. And I think that is very much understood by most people. And so give yourself that flexibility and then give yourself the understanding of what do I need to do today for myself, for my role to be successful and just follow that. So I think for me, what I found is, like, there's a couple activities and hobbies that I schedule in throughout the week. So when I lived in Michigan, like, I love volunteering, so I used to volunteer at the local library.
I liked dancing, so I used to go for dance classes, and that was always my time. Right? Like, no checking emails, no checking anything work related. Just this is something that I enjoy, making sure I schedule time with friends to like, go out, try a new place or go out for coffee or something. Just putting that time into my week and into my day to make sure that, hey, this time is just for me and for no one else.
And then if I need to get work done here or there, then it's okay. I shouldn't feel bad about it. That's the biggest thing. I think a lot of people feel bad. Oh, I did work. Like, I shouldn't have done work. It's okay. It's okay to do work. It's hard to get everything done during the day. Just give yourself kind of that understanding, and you'll be fine. Just don't overdo it, is what I'd say. But everyone's balance looks very different.
You know, people who are married or have kids, their balance looks very different. Their lives look very different. They're balancing different responsibilities.
So their work life balance is focused on their families or their spouse or their partner, and they have to factor that in as well. So it's just all about the situation you're in and making sure that you're doing what's best for you.
[01:10:12] Speaker A: I think that's spot on, where the balance is different for everybody. So try not to compare what your balance is to somebody else's. I think that's really spot on. Porvo. Now, we're towards the very end of our discussion today. I clearly am not an expert on EV's powertrains or manufacturing operations. That's you. So what kind of questions about all the topics we've talked about today? Should I have asked? But. Because, again, I'm not an expert. I didn't ask. Or maybe a better way to phrase this, what kind of questions do you get from interns, mentees, or friends about your career that I didn't ask about that you wanted to make sure we talked about today.
[01:10:56] Speaker B: First of all, you did a great job.
So lots of good questions, I think.
So I help with recruiting as well.
So the most common question I get when I say that I'm working on EV technology or new technology is usually about sustainability. And that's, like, a very big word in today's society, sustainability. You see it in your clothing brands, your makeup brands, everything that you do. That word is pretty front and center. And so that question comes to us is like, how are you approaching your sustainability practices? What does transitioning to EV's look like from, in terms of sustainability?
And I think for us, one of the biggest things that I like to point out is that sustainability means a lot of things. So it means having sustainable production processes at our plants, making sure our products are dependable and sustainable for the long term. But then also this transition to EV's, what are we doing to make sure that it continues to be sustainable? And something that I've gotten a chance to work on is our circular economies within the. Within the product.
So looking at something like our batteries and understanding that there's a lot more applications for the battery than just the truck used. You know, there's. You can reuse batteries in different applications, like secondary storage, to help provide that support to the grid. There's a ton of recycling options to recover those materials that are sometimes hard to get.
And then we also have this amazing remanufacturing program that we do where we can take batteries that are maybe a little bit older and reuse different parts of them to rebuild a new battery and put it back into a truck for extended use. So looking at how you can reuse products in different ways, that's something that we're doing. And I think it's really fun because I've gotten very involved in the sustainability part of our company, and that is actually part of my job as the ESG program manager as well.
So looking at different ways that our company can continue to be sustainable, and a lot of those practices we're already doing, but just continuing to push outside of just providing vehicles that are zero.
[01:13:44] Speaker A: Emission, that is really, really cool. I like that, the circular economy. Like, how do you make sure that this isn't just one direction, but everything loops back around, right?
And then into that same vein about ESG.
What advice do you have specifically for scholars who are not male as they approach careers in engineering generally, but more specifically within automotive, within the work that you're doing? Because I have to imagine it's probably still fairly male dominated. And I sit here as a man, probably overlooked that question as I was prepping for this. So what advice do you have for those scholars who are not male?
[01:14:23] Speaker B: DeI initiatives are really important at every workplace, and the most important thing is to feel like you belong in the place that you work. And that goes back to the conversation about building those relationships. And so, yeah, it can be intimidating coming into an industry where you're the minority, but do your best to. I think, first of all, connect with the people that you work with. I think most people are, that I've encountered in any company or industry that I've worked with are very willing to help and just make your experience as welcome as possible. So if you go out there and try to build those relationships and help form that community within your workplace, that gives you a lot of support.
Outside of that, join the different Dei groups. So, you know, in our company, and I know at lots of other companies, you know, there's tons of these resource groups. We have the women's Network, which I'm really involved with here.
We have the Asian Resource Network, which I'm also involved in. So, like, there's all these different groups that you can join to also meet other people within your community that can then help support you and build you up. And that's, you know, when I joined Daimler, I joined the Women's Network, and that really helped me because I met a lot of other women that were also working on the plant floor, working in these different environments, and they were able to give me advice and support me along my journey. And so find those groups, find those people within your company that are there to give you that support.
And then look at the rest of the people that you work with as well, because a lot of them are also very willing and very excited to give you the support that you're looking for. It's just about building that relationships, but it can be tough, can be intimidating.
But I think at the end of the day, it all comes back to building that community, and that will help you feel a lot less intimidated and a lot more supported.
[01:16:32] Speaker A: That's incredible. And I think that connects to what we really value here in the college with community. So just extending it out, you'll find community where you live, where you work. And don't forget, the Penn State community goes with you wherever you go as well.
Now, porva chance to brag here. You're still early in your career, so this may change over time, but what would you say is your biggest success so far?
[01:16:56] Speaker B: That's tough.
I'd say, honestly, I thought about this and it was the first thing that came to mind because it's the most recent, is our sustainability initiatives, just because I've been so involved in them.
And being able to establish that circular process for our company, be a part of the group that did it, I think has just been such a huge accomplishment personally, and also has a lot of meaning to me in terms of building a better future for the people around me and in my life.
And so showing that we can work on these sustainable practices, I love that I can do that as part of my job, but I'm also very passionate about it outside of my workplace. And so that was a huge accomplishment for me. And I'm very excited as I get to grow into this role, that I get to do more of that moving forward. But I would say, yeah, that's definitely been a big one.
I think also just being able to get more involved in my communities over time, now that I've had a chance to go through some other experiences, I love interacting with different alumni, different students, and I think it's been great to kind of get to be more involved through the college as well.
[01:18:32] Speaker A: Well, I will definitely echo all of that for you. I love that you're thinking about these sustainability things that is just really, really cool on that industrial scale. It's one thing for us as regular people to recycle our cans and bottles and things, but you're thinking at industrial scale, so that's really, really cool. And also, as the alumni director, I love that you're really proud of being involved, and I say thank you for that. But on the flip side, Apoorva, what would you say is the biggest transformational learning moment or mistake that you've made in your career so far, and most importantly, what you have learned from that to grow from it?
[01:19:10] Speaker B: That's.
That's tough. Not that I haven't made mistakes.
I'd say that for me, maybe the biggest transformation has been allowing myself to take more risks. But that's something that wasn't really like a, like a one moment thing. I think it was over time. And it's definitely some advice that I've passed on to different students that I've worked with, is that it is so scary sometimes to, you know, I don't know about other scholars, but I think I. We do tend to be very planned, and, you know, there's a very guide system for a lot of people. You like to have your plan in place, make sure you're following that path.
And I think coming out of the training program and especially coming out of it, and then not so soon after going into a pandemic, there were so many unknowns, so many, like, what do I want to do in my career? What roles do I want to take? Like, do I want to still be in this environment? Do I not?
It was tough. And I think being so far away from home as well during that time period, there was a lot of decisions to make as to whether or not this was the right path still. And so for me, it was kind of like trusting myself and what felt right at the moment and being open to taking those risks, of saying yes to a big move, saying yes to a big career change, it felt intimidating. But I think that's what's exciting as well sometimes, is that you do need to take those risks in order to experience something new. And that's a hard thing to do for someone who might like to have everything planned out, because things don't always go to plan, and so they almost never go to plan. Right. So it's when you start realizing that it's just about, like, seizing the moment, right? Like, as cheesy as that might sound, but just, like, going with it and doing what's right at that point and not focusing so much on the what ifs. Like, you know, well, what if this doesn't go right. What if that move turns out horribly? Like, there's always another option and being open to that. So like, yeah, what if moving out here wasn't, you know, doesn't go great? It's okay. Like, it's not the end of the world. I can hopefully, you know, find another direction to go in. And I think that's been a huge trend transformation for me as I went from being someone who really liked having that plan, having all my classes figured out, my schedule figured out, to transitioning into the workplace and being really comfortable with taking those risks and understanding that, you know, sometimes you just have to go with it.
[01:22:15] Speaker A: Well, that was really, really deep and I think that was really a really good thing to share there. Apoorva. So we're going to transition to just some fun questions that are not nearly as deep as that. We've already had a really good conversation about mentorship, so we're going to skip that kind of usual question asked here. Go right to are there any professors or friends from your days here at Penn State that you want to give a shout out to?
[01:22:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I would.
I will get in trouble if I don't give a shout out to my, my group of friends from Penn State. State from the globe. We, I mentioned that I lived there while I was at Penn State in the special living option. And our group of friends, I mean, I'll say we got lucky, I guess. We all were in that freshman hallway and from day one we just got along really well. And we've stayed friends for ten years now, which is crazy, but it's awesome. And they for me have been a huge support system throughout those years, whether it be career changes, moves, college, everything in between. And so watching them grow has been very exciting and so huge. Shout out to them and everything that they've done in the Penn State community.
And then, yeah, my IE professors and advisors, I just, I have come back to them for recommendations, connected with them on LinkedIn. I'm part of their alumni group as well, just a great group of people and learned a lot. And I talk, you know, I'm mentoring an IE student right now and I always tell him like, that, you think that some of the stuff you're going to learn, you're never going to use, but that for me, what we learned in those classes, and I think the experiences I had with my professors, I've applied so much of that. And I think that I truly wasn't maybe expecting that because you don't always think that everything in the classroom is going to translate, but a lot of it did. And so I'm really thankful for that.
[01:24:34] Speaker A: As we're wrapping up our time here, what is a final piece of advice that you would want to leave with Schreier scholars, hopefully to make the most of their time here at Penn State and in the honors college or early in their career, no matter what field that is.
[01:24:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
Do everything I always say, you know, like, explore as much as you can. You know, like we were saying before, don't be so scared about the path and whether you're following it correctly or not, you know, now is your time to really explore and try different things.
I got that advice from one of someone who I worked at, with, at GM when I was thinking about going back, actually. He said, he said, but you have the chance to go do something totally different next year. Go do it like, okay.
And I'm happy that he pushed me to do that. And I constantly am passing that along because I think it is. You know, you have this very unique opportunity right now in your life where you can make as many changes, try as many things with very little consequence. Honestly, at least from, you know, the engineering industry perspective, you have this opportunity to really dive in and try a whole lot, and no one's gonna.
Gonna think twice about it. They're just going to put it as, you know, you were a student, you were trying to figure things out, and you tried a million things. That's good. Like, that's a good thing. That means that now you're coming into this workforce or you're coming into, you know, this new stage of your life, and you have all these experiences of knowing what you like and what you don't like.
That is a flexibility that, honestly, you won't see as much after you graduate. There's definitely opportunities to change your career. There's definitely opportunities to change your industry. But it's not as easy as it is when you're a student.
[01:26:36] Speaker A: That is really, really good advice. Apoorva. And I definitely had the song from Zootopia in my head throughout that entire time you were talking about that. So we know what your unofficial theme song might be. So queue up the shakira after. After you're done watching or listening to this. Now, if you also want to find out what other songs that you enjoy or might be your theme songs, or more importantly, what advice and career opportunities, you know, keep this conversation going after this video ends. How can scholars reach out to you?
[01:27:10] Speaker B: Yeah, the best way is through LinkedIn.
Just connect with me. Send me a message.
I'll do my best to get back, but it is definitely the best way to reach me is through LinkedIn.
[01:27:23] Speaker A: Excellent. I had a feeling you might say that because we've mentioned LinkedIn a few times throughout this conversation, and you said one of the questions earlier was hard. This is the hardest one that you will get in this entire podcast interview here at Porva. And hopefully maybe you can help them down the road with an electric or hydrogen powered ice cream. Chuck, if you were a flavor of Berkey creamery ice cream, which would you be? And more importantly, why would you be that flavor? As a scholar alumna?
[01:27:54] Speaker B: Okay.
I would have to say I want to make sure I get the name right.
Okay. It's the PSU coffee break ice cream. I hope I got that correct.
[01:28:10] Speaker A: WPSU coffee break. You got it.
[01:28:12] Speaker B: WPSU coffee break.
First of all, it's one of my favorite ice creams. Second of all, I drink a ton of coffee every day.
[01:28:21] Speaker A: Cheers to that.
[01:28:22] Speaker B: Yep, cheers to that.
And it is what keeps me going all day. And I just, I'm a coffee enthusiast, so that is, that has to be my coffee of choice or my ice cream of choice.
[01:28:37] Speaker A: Well, that makes sense. You are helping our trucks, our buses and other large scale vehicles run on battery, on solar, on hydrogen, and other things that are not fossil fuels. So you need your own fuel. And that, like me, is coffee. So that is a great choice there. Thank you, Apoorva, for joining us and sharing your insights. And thank you to the scholars watching or listening. Before I let you, Apoorva, have the last word for scholars watching. If you're, you know, if you're watching the video version, be sure to subscribe. Like the video, leave us a comment. If you're engaging with the audio version, be sure to follow us and leave us a rating on whichever podcast app you're listening to us on today. And with that, Apoorva, I will let you have the final word here on following the gonge.
[01:29:22] Speaker B: Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you, Shawn, for having me today. And hopefully I was able to share some interesting information for the scholars, though.
