Dusita de Hoop

Coming from a diverse educational background with a Bachelors in Chemistry and Physics and a Masters in Chemical Process and Equipment Design, I found myself wondering what working in the chemical engineering industry would be like. After my Masters, I worked at a petrochemical company in Thailand for a year. Although I gained many new insights, I wanted to challenge myself further. I wanted to improve my technical skills to be able to work at the forefront of the industry. For these reasons, I decided to join the EngD program in Process and Equipment Design. 

The EngD Program has truly made me a better engineer and sharpened my skillset for the chemical engineering industry. The program challenged how I worked and framed problems in order for me to come up and communicate innovative and effective solutions. For my Individual Design Project, I had the chance to work with a small start-up called Pertracta. Pertracta produces pertraction modules which are membrane modules that facilitate liquid-liquid extraction.  The aim of the project is to demonstrate the value proposition of Pertracta modules to the industry. The project can be considered one of the most difficult things I’ve ever undertaken. During the project, I had to manage the project, coordinate with industrial partners, perform the experiments and modelling, and find solutions to the problems encountered. Although it was difficult, with personal and close support from my scientific supervisor and design coach, I felt very well supported throughout the process. Additionally, the end result was very satisfactory for Pertracta and myself. 

After the EngD program, I joined SkyNRG, a project developer for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facilities, which is in a completely different field of work than what I have experienced during the EngD program. This demonstrates that the skills that I gained during the program are applicable to any industry and job role. Aside from the technical aspects, throughout the 2 years I made many valuable memories with the EngD community which is full of ambitious, friendly, and talented people from all over the world.