MIE graduate ready for the working world
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Thanks to her MIE courses, Eliza Abdullai is ready to graduate and launch into a design career.
After graduation, she will join the Hill Group, a Chicago-based mechanical contracting firm specializing in virtual design, construction, HVAC, plumbing, and fire protection. She landed the position after meeting with company representatives at a UIC career fair on campus.
“I enjoyed using SolidWorks, AutoCAD, and different programs I learned in school. Now, I’m going to be working on the fire protection team, designing fire protection systems for different buildings,” she said.
Abdullai’s interest in the field began in high school, when she participated in a program that introduced her to engineering, architecture, and construction management. She chose engineering because it was something she was familiar with.
“My dad is a mechanical engineer, and my brothers and I were very exposed to the engineering field,” she said. “I also took some intro to engineering courses in high school. I learned a lot about AutoCAD and other design software, and I really enjoyed doing it. That’s why I chose engineering.
Growing up in the region, Abdullai chose UIC for its proximity to her family and for her love of the city. She also came specifically for the engineering program.
“UIC is the biggest public research university in Chicago, which is great. There’s so much opportunity, and it has a really big engineering school, and having a big community at school is really important for me,” she said.
At UIC, she also found a strong community in student organizations and among her peers in the classroom.
“My freshman year, I attended the Society of Women in Engineering meetings where they had different women come speak from different fields. And it gave me some good insight into the diverse kinds of fields I can go into and the impacts that engineers make,” she said.
In addition to those opportunities, the MIE courses prepared her for life after graduation.
“My favorite course was Senior Design. I think it was the most important class that I’ve taken at UIC, because it feels the most real-world to me,” she said.
In the course, she worked with her team members to solve a warehouse design problem for a packaging company in Franklin Park, Illinois. She learned from her peers and received feedback from the company’s plant manager, who advised the team. The course also provided her with the opportunity to do a site visit and gain more independent experience outside of the classroom.
“Being an engineer is all about problem-solving. I feel like that’s just a good quality to have, whether you’re an employee or an employer. You spend so much time solving problems that you get better at it. It’s a good skill that translates into any part of your life,” Abdullai said.