Hi everyone! My name is Maria Thorpe, and I am a freshman in the Swanson School of Engineering. I am majoring in chemical engineering. I am so excited to be travelling to Vietnam this summer on the Plus3 program!

Originally, I am from Eldersburg, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. I have one brother and two pet fish. In high school, I was a member of the cross country team and tech crew for the drama club. I was drawn to Pitt because of the great engineering program, the school spirit, and the urban campus. I have always loved math and science, especially chemistry, which led to my decision to major in chemical engineering. I am excited to be able to combine those interests as I continue with my education and future career. I still do not know exactly what field I want to work in, but I plan to spend the next three years exploring different fields through programs like co-op and undergraduate research. Ultimately, I hope to be able to use my skills to benefit the public, potentially by developing new medicines in the pharmaceutical industry or by solving environmental problems, like finding sustainable alternatives to plastic. Outside of classwork, I am a volunteer tutor for Breakthrough, an organization that reaches out to students in Pittsburgh Public Schools. I also am a member of the lawn sports club and chocolate milk club. For fun, I love exploring the city with my friends; from exploring museums to botanical gardens to finding new delicious things to eat, I have never been bored in Pittsburgh.

I chose to travel to Vietnam for the Plus3 program because of both the topic and the location. The Vietnam program focuses on globalization and development. I have always been interested in travelling and seeing different parts of the world, and I would love if I could incorporate international travel into my future career. Seeing how a business runs in another part of the world and learning about how business is changing because of increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world will be relevant to almost any future career. I believe that Vietnam will be an interesting place to learn about this because of how quickly it has developed after the destruction of the war. I am also interested in experiencing the culture of Vietnam. So far, the only travelling I have done has been to Western Europe, so I am very excited to explore a new part of the world, attempt to learn a new language, hear history from a different perspective, and try new food (which I’ve heard is very good). The Plus3 Vietnam program is unique because we get to interact with local college students, so hopefully I will get to immerse myself in the culture on a deeper level than what a typical tourist gets to.

I hope that after this experience, I will have a better understanding of what factors engineers need to consider to produce a product, especially in the context of an international company. I also want to retain at least a few words of Vietnamese and make some new friends. I’m counting down the days!