Student spotlight: Abby Umscheid

As a fluid systems intern at Westinghouse Electric Company, Abby Umscheid focused on optimizing nuclear reactor systems that interface with a liquid or gas. She did calculations and flow estimations as part of a project to downscale current reactor designs to create a new design for a small modular reactor. All the coding she has done as a chemical engineering major equipped her to make calculations faster and easier.

Umscheid, who is also minoring in biomedical engineering, has accepted an offer to work at Westinghouse after she graduates. She says her chemical engineering courses have given her the foundation she needs for a job focused on how systems in a nuclear reactor combine. "You can tell chemical engineers to work on one thing," Umscheid says, "but we want to know how the entire system is going to work. We draw a control volume, for example, and then we dive into the black box of magic and look at all of the systems within that."

I've really found my people here. It’s a good feeling to have so much support.

Abby Umscheid, Undergraduate student, Chemical Engineering

During her summer internship, Umscheid attended the US Women in Nuclear conference. While the Westinghouse group with which Umscheid interned was very diverse, she has seen that is not always the case. At the conference, Umscheid felt empowered by seeing more than 900 women with different companies, positions, and levels of seniority. "It was encouraging to see women from different generations who are valued by their companies," she says. "It showed me that there are open possibilities for people who look like me."

Even with her plan to work in industry, Umscheid remains open to future opportunities. She found a new spark for engineering education at the beginning of her senior year. "I want to help people learn because it's not always accessible to everyone," she says.

Thinking back to her first week at Carnegie Mellon, Umscheid remembers feeling vulnerable and insecure. She was grateful to have each day planned during orientation. She has paid that forward by serving on the First-Year Orientation staff three times. "A lot of us have imposter syndrome. I share my experiences to reassure new students," Umscheid says.

She has found that when she puts time in, she gets a lot out, and she's seen her skills and confidence build. When Umscheid first started undergraduate research with Daphne Chan, she didn't understand all of the science. "I was at the edge of the knowledge that I needed," she says. "I had enough to continue. I just needed to develop that."

With a stipend from the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) and Chemical Engineering Summer Scholars (ChESS) programs, Umscheid joined the Chan Group's research on the biodegradability of polymers. Her project was part of their work altering proteins to have certain characteristics that make them more compatible with polymers.

Umscheid developed modification and processing strategies to make proteins more hydrophobic. She found that if she fibrillized them in specific conditions like heat and pH, more secondary structures formed in the proteins. "The challenge is maintaining the protein fibrillation while heating it up to blend it with the plastics," she explains.

Umscheid presented her research at the Out in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (oSTEM) 2023 national conference and was awarded Best Undergraduate Poster.

She serves on the board for the CMU chapter of oSTEM and also for Kiltie Band. Playing tenor saxophone at football and basketball games and during the winter concert season is a good outlet. "It's just really fun to make music with other people," she says.

Kiltie Band is open to undergraduate and graduate students from all departments. Umscheid has met many friends there, as well as in the chemical engineering department. "I've really found my people here at Carnegie Mellon," she says. "It's a good feeling to have so much support."