My name is Abby Kocher (she/her), and I am from West Chester, PA.  I have lived in Pennsylvania my whole life, but I have always rooted for Pittsburgh sports teams. My favorite team to support is the Pirates!  I love reading, sketching, painting, doing yoga, walking/hiking with my parents, and I enjoy creative writing.  I like Disney, Harry Potter (I am a Hufflepuff), and The Mandalorian.  I am a sophomore Chemical Engineering student, and I am involved in a few clubs on campus: University Handbell Ensemble, Project Potter, and AIChE.  I also had a campus job last fall, as an Engineering Peer Mentor/Leader, and plan to return to the position next fall.  This summer I have an internship with Proconex.

The Prague Plus3 program looks at the impact that cultural developments in the Czech Republic have had on engineering and other industries in that country, and vice versa.  I chose this global experience because I had family that used to live in Czechoslovakia, and I thought it could be valuable and interesting to see if culture has a discernable impact on how certain industries operate.  I also want to compare engineering customs abroad with comparable ones in the United States.  Personally, I am very eager to experience everything in another country from the food and the culture to the architecture and the artwork.  Personally, and academically, I look forward to this global experience as a chance to learn more about a language and society that I know very little about.  I have always been interested in language and culture, so I am very excited.  Professionally, I hope to see jobs that are available in Chemical Engineering and adjacent industries, which could give me a better idea of what I might want to do as a career after graduation. I am also hoping to learn some of the positive ideals that people in the Czech Republic practice when it comes to their work-lives, so I can implement them in my future career.