One of senior Seydou Diallo’s favorite things about UT is he’s been encouraged to do undergraduate research with his environmental engineering mentor.
“It has allowed me to get a peek into what I plan to do in the future, while also allowing me to aid in the degradation of harmful chemicals in the environment right now, which is an amazing feeling, along with loads of experience that arrive alongside,” he says.
While he came into college not knowing what he wanted to study—and with his family wanting him to seriously consider a pre-med track—a class he took during his first year influenced his path.
“I happened across a Waters and Civilization class, which changed my outlook and helped me find what I really wanted to do—hydraulic and environmental engineering.”
While that class introduced him to environmental engineering, it was his fieldwork experience that showed him how he could transform the algorithms and facts learned in the classroom into real-word applications.
Seydou says his experience in the field and in the lab have shaped his thoughts about his future career—one in which he can combine what he wants to do, environmental engineering, with what he loves, being outdoors.