UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native Dennis James wasn’t really interested in attending a college too close to home. Deciding between Arizona State University and Penn State, James spent three days at University Park for Achievers Weekend. He recalled, “I networked with other students who were considering engineering, as well as engineering faculty. I was hooked.”
During his visit, James also met staff from the College of Engineering’s Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP), who helped him sort out his financial aid options. He said, “I was fortunate to be awarded a Bunton-Waller Fellowship.”
The fellowship pays full in-state tuition for James, who is the first in his family to attend college. He said being a Bunton-Waller Fellow has other advantages. “For instance, all fellows live in the same residence hall during their first year. This fosters a sense of community among students and helps ease the transition to the academic atmosphere.”
James soon found himself involved in several student groups. The aspiring civil engineer joined the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the American Society of Civil Engineers, Chi Epsilon and Penn State’s Student Minority and Recruitment Team, and served as an activity lead, design lead, mentor, ambassador and office intern for MEP.
A NSBE career networking event provided an opportunity for James to meet representatives from ExxonMobil. He recalled, “They were impressed with my coursework and involvement outside the classroom, so they offered me an internship.”
James spent the summer after his sophomore year in ExxonMobil’s Upstream business division, which focuses on safe operations, reservoir management and continuous improvement and on applying production operations best practices around the world.
He was hired as a construction engineer at ExxonMobil in Houston, working with materials management. After some training, James went on a project assignment in Corpus Christi, Texas, where his duties included managing clients, taking inventory of materials and deciding when the company needed to keep materials and when the materials could be sent to a fabrication yard.
The following summer he returned to ExxonMobil, this time as a cost engineer in Fairfax, Virginia. James was assigned to the company’s Downstream business division, which refines and distributes products derived from crude oil and other feed stocks.
His responsibilities included analyzing project contingency allocations and creating a standardized metric system for future company projects. ExxonMobil’s management implemented James’ system, which has the potential to help the company better budget future projects. “It’s being used in their guides for cost engineers to follow for projects,” noted James.
John Alfano, section head, cost engineering in the Project Management Division at ExxonMobil in Fairfax, was James’ supervisor during his most recent internship. He said, “We appreciate that summer interns such as Dennis come in prepared with the requisite analytical skills, motivation and good engineering judgment and are able to make a significant and useful impact over a relatively brief period of time. Dennis’s work this past summer has enabled us to better understand and track how our projects develop over a critical time in their lifecycle.”
As a senior, James has invested his time serving as an engineering career envoy, sharing his internship experiences at ExxonMobil with other students. Kim Fox, associate director of the Engineering Career Resources and Employer Relations Office, said, “Dennis has a variety of career knowledge and experience that he can share. He feels strongly about peer mentoring and joined the career envoys to make a difference.”
He also is vice president and membership chair of Kappa Alpha Psi and he recently finished his term as executive vice president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
After graduating with his bachelor’s degree this May, James will begin a full-time career as a project cost engineer at ExxonMobil in Houston.
But first, he said, he will take a little time off to travel. “I’ve been to 15 countries but there are still many more I’d like to see.”
James noted that Penn State made him a better analytical thinker, problem solver and leader. “Exxon and other companies appreciate these qualities. They want to hire people who can jump right in.”