Student spotlight: Avineet Nanjappa

Some of Avineet Nanjappa's favorite memories from Spring Carnival include watching a street-style dance battle and throwing last year's Carnival giveaway, a Scotty plush dog, into the audience at events. Avineet is also dedicated to helping fellow students create their own memories and serves as co-chair of the Spring Carnival Committee.

She joined the committee her first year at Carnegie Mellon, helping with the operations, user interface / user experience (UI/UX), and entertainment subcommittees. Her sophomore year, she used her proficiency with Google Sheets to lead the organization's finances.

Avineet's role as co-chair involves managing peers and external vendors like the rides company. She also works with university staff to ensure everything goes according to plan. "The co-chairs are responsible for making sure everyone is where they need to be, and I try not to step on others' toes," says Avineet. Making processes as smooth as possible is a priority for her.

 

From safe weather conditions for scissor lifts to the weight of the rides above the underground Doherty steam tunnels, there are many considerations. Avineet and her co-chair have learned to work together while dealing with obstacles. They also have learned a lot about logistics and operations at CMU.

The night before the Carnival opening ceremony last April brought heavy rain and high winds. It was unsafe for booth teams to use scissor lifts to reach their second stories, and a lot of structures weren't fully built on opening day. Avineet and the Carnival leadership team, including university staff, made the decision to delay the opening ceremony until Friday. Giving teams an extension for decorating allowed every booth to open for the ceremony.

In keeping with the Carnival theme, Arcade, students named the scissor lifts after Pokemon characters. They named the golf carts after Mario Brothers characters, based on their speeds. Koopa Troopa was Avineet's favorite to drive.

Avineet is already speeding ahead with process improvements for this year. In collaboration with the UI/UX team on the Spring Carnival Committee, she wants to explore ways to augment and automate processes instead of using Google Sheets.

One area of focus is move-on, a night for all booth-building organizations to move their building materials and equipment onto the build site. This requires coordinating the trucks driving onto Midway and the hand-carry routes for booth materials. There are rules to account for, like no more than six people can carry a wooden frame. The Spring Carnival Committee organizes waves of trucks and people, taking into consideration the size of the organizations, what routes they'll be taking, and the weather. Avineet says the process went better last year than in previous years, and she wants to improve it further.

Much of her work as co-chair is managing resources and organizing other groups of students. Avineet draws from her minor in operations and supply chain management to try to optimize systems for Carnival. She has found that some of the business optimization content from her minor overlaps with her chemical engineering classes.

Avineet chose to major in chemical engineering because of her interest in supply chains and process-improvement. She describes chemical engineering as the most process-focused engineering major. She also likes its versatility. "You can go into cosmetics, food, or consumer products. You can work on green initiatives at major oil and gas companies. You can get a role that's more business-based, like consulting or finance," she says.

With an additional major in engineering and public policy, Avineet is augmenting her skill set for business roles. She's learning how to write proposals, perform statistical analyses, make decisions based on data, and present a recommendation to a client.

Avineet is already applying these skills as a leader of the CMU Undergraduate Consulting Club. As a project director her sophomore year, she was responsible for sourcing clients. The club's previous work had all been pro bono, and her main goal was to start bringing in paid projects. It didn't happen until last year, under her leadership as president. With their first paying clients, the club now has a five-figure income. Avineet also sees her role as president as helping others feel confident when they apply for consulting internships.

It's a continuation of her commitment to her peers. With both processes and people, Avineet is paving the way.