Hi everyone! My name is Paige Dziedzic and I am from Chicago, Illinois. I am currently in my third semester at Pitt studying in the Swanson School of Engineering and majoring in civil engineering. I am part of the Engineers Without Borders local sector as well as Student-Athlete Advisory Council. I am also on the varsity women’s soccer team here at Pitt! While my day-to-day life can look pretty hectic trying to balance an engineering courseload with D1 athletics, I love being able to represent my school in such a cool way! After graduation, I hope to work at an engineering firm somewhere warm ;). When I’m not focusing on school or soccer, I love doing anything active outdoors whether it be running up spikeball, playing volleyball, or camping with my family.
I am super excited to leave for Cyprus in just a few short weeks! This will be my second time traveling abroad and I’m very happy to have the opportunity to explore a country in the Mediterranean. I believe this trip will be incredibly valuable for both my engineering career and personal development. Civil engineering is a discipline that requires extensive collaboration with companies all over the world in order to obtain construction materials and execute large-scale projects. Therefore, gaining an international perspective will directly translate to my desired field where so many projects require collaboration with international teams and consideration of global standards. I was particularly interested in the Cyprus trip due to its emphasis on supply chain management as I think learning about the intersection between business practices and engineering will be very valuable. Studying abroad for an entire semester is difficult to do with my athletic commitments so this two-week summer program fits perfectly with my schedule! I am also hoping to create a lot of great friendships on this trip.
A few things I have learned thus far in the pre-departure classes:
- The supply chain consists of the link between suppliers, manufacturers, transporters, distributors, retailers, and customers.
- How the economic order quantity is used to calculate the most cost-effective amount of product to purchase at any given time.
- Dinnertime tends to be very late in Cyprus.
