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Bella Fowler interviews student Parie Patel about her experiences as an EPIB and Mechanical Engineering Double Major
Could just introduce yourself, your major, your minor, any clubs you’re a part of at Rutgers. Anything you want to tell us about yourself?
Patel: Of course! I’m a junior. I’m a mechanical engineering major and recently became a declared EPIB major during my freshman summer, actually, but I’ve been taking EPIB [Environmental Policy, Institution, and Behaviors] classes since my freshman fall because I always knew I wanted to major in it. I’m involved in a variety of clubs at Rutgers both academic and for fun, ranging from clubs like the Society of Women in Engineering, and Students for Environmental Energy Development to Rutgers Cheese Club and Dungeons and Dragons Club. I’m also an intern at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as a bioplastics policy research intern. I do regulatory and legislative analysis on plastic bans, what their effects might be and how we can implement them as a regulatory agency.
What are some of your favorite parts about each of your majors?
Patel: My favorite part would probably be how each major uses different parts of my brain. Both majors are very interdisciplinary which is the reason I chose mechanical engineering over other forms. Right now I’m taking thermodynamics, which is a chemical engineering course but I also have to take mechatronics (an electrical engineering course) and mechanics of materials which is a civil engineering course. Mechanical engineering gives me a little bit of everything and has so many uses both within the environment and unrelated to it. I like that I can do different things with it.
EPIB is also such a tight knit community of people. I’m always showing up at the offices to ask questions and for references. When I tell my computer science friends (or friends in majors with larger student populations) that I know my professors and they know me they’re like “Wow that’s crazy!” The community aspect of this major is great and I always feel really supported in my interests even if they’re not directly related to what the class is about.
How do you balance both of your majors?
Patel: Extensive planning and thoughts and prayers.
Last semester, for example, I took 25 credits, and then this semester I’m taking 21. Over the summer I’m taking 8 or 9. It’s a lot of time and I don’t really get a break. My engineering major is extremely credit intensive and I don’t get to choose which classes I take when it’s very planned out for me since freshman year. I didn’t realize that other majors weren’t as credit intensive and that there was an environmental studies major made for people who wanted to double major. But I had already declared for EPIB at that point so I decided to make it work with my schedule.
I wouldn’t say that I’m handling it with grace, I am all over the place. And since my majors use different parts of my brain, there’s no real crossover between classes. But I rely on the faculty to help. Like I said before, they’re really understanding of their students being actual people. I’ve asked Doctor Ramenzoni for extensions on a lot of projects and she’s always willing to work with me to get the work done. She’s just one of the professors that’s really accommodating and understanding. They’re one of my most useful tools for balancing my majors, I’m always emailing them and asking questions after class. I know some students can be scared of being shunned for asking questions but being proactive has been the most helpful for me.
Do you see any overlap between your two majors, either in your current studies or for the future?
Patel: Oh, yeah when I tell people my two majors it takes them a second, I can see the gears turning in their head – then they’re like “oh that makes sense”. The actual academic side doesn’t have a ton of course overlap because engineering has professional accreditation associated with it. You have to take a lot of major specific classes that are standard across different schools. But professionally, there’s a ton of overlap. Many of my engineering classmates have this misguided idea that our work is done in a vacuum. We get so excited about the technical side of engineering but that’s not all engineering is. When I was completing my internship at the DEP, the full time staff were really impressed with my policy background. They have a high turnover rate for engineers who come into that role and think they’re just going to do engineering work. But that’s not how the real world works, there’s policy and politics involved with everything an engineer does; having that policy background really makes me stand out. I feel like it makes me both a better engineer and also a better policy maker.
Out in the field, my skills really go both ways. A lot of the policy reports I’ve had to read stem from really technical reports and my engineering background obviously helps me understand that a lot better. I can go into the reports and see are the findings of this study actually supporting this policy, or if it’s just tangentially related. It’s been a really helpful skill in my internships.
I always tell engineering folks to try taking a public health course or a policy course just to get a more well rounded view of the context in which engineering exists. I convinced one of my friends to take the Environmental Solutions class with me and it covered a lot of material that I’ve heard before but he had never encountered. It’s that kind of exposure that is really important for engineers to have and it’s not something that many of them do. Communication is a key part of an engineer’s role. People who go into engineering don’t realize that it’s a public facing role. The whole field of engineering exists to serve the public and you’re dealing with public comment and criticism constantly.
Do you have any advice for students looking to have multiple majors or who are trying to balance their interests with their schoolwork?
Patel: Yeah! I know a lot of my peers have really different majors and minors in addition to EPIB. There’s someone with a dance minor, there’s a good amount of political science double majors too. They use those majors and minors to really focus on what they want to go into. My Careers in EPIB class really showed me how diverse EPIB can be, there’s a lot of different careers to go into. This major is really what you make of it, there’s a lot of opportunities to take classes that cater to your interests that also fulfill your requirements.
When most people hear about EPIB they think it’s really niche, but it’s actually such a broad field of study. That’s why I think it’s important to have skills outside of just EPIB. While a decent amount of my peers go on into environmental policy, many of them go to GIS or to more technical environmental science sub-fields. Having specific second majors or minors really helps EPIB students find what they want to do in the environmental field.
As for advice, I would say to remember what you’re doing this for. Most EPIB majors aren’t here just because their parents tell them to or because it’s just a degree to have. They’re here for a reason and remembering that reason when your coursework is piling up or you’re struggling in your classes is really important. I remember one time during my freshman year, walking out of my Natural Resource Policy class just feeling so defeated. It was a three hour class and all my freshman engineering required classes to complete too. I was just really exhausted. But I walked outside of Blake Hall and saw Passion Puddle. I remember it was so foggy and the water was glistening. I just had to stand there for a moment like, “well this is what I’m doing it for”. It sounds silly but taking that moment to reflect and just enjoy the environment that I’m working so hard to protect is really inspirational and helps motivate me. Definitely touch grass.
Do you have anything else you want to highlight about your experience?
Patel: I really like that EPIB is diverse. Not just in the demographics of the student body, but also in people’s viewpoints and interests. It’s not you surrounded by seven other dudes who want to make a fighter jet. There’s people from all different backgrounds who want to focus on plant science or go to law school or help craft governmental policy or impact public health.
I remember my Intro to Human Ecology [now Introduction to EPIB] class as a freshman – taking it and knowing nothing about EPIB. I mostly took it because it fit with my schedule but I felt really comfortable in that class. Not just as a woman because there were a lot of women in the class and major, but as a person of color. I really appreciated how diverse the topics of study were. The class went into how Western policies were forced upon South Asian and African farmers leading to a massive uptake in debt-related suicides. Having grown up hearing stories from my father about my grandfather and his farm, it was really important to me that these conversations were happening, since US policy has historically severely impacted the global south. I really think that if there are people of color that are curious about EPIB that they should take a class and check it out. I can’t speak for everybody but at least in the South Asian community there’s a lot of hesitancy in going into environmental work because of this mindset of “what’s there?” Like, “I don’t know if that’s for us, it’s probably for the real Americans who live here.” But I really recommend it. My professors are great at handling policy outside of a US centric perspective which is really refreshing.
I also appreciate that there’s a lot of women in my classes. I’m used to being one of the only girls in my engineering classes so it’s such a whiplash to go to my EPIB classes that are often majority girls. I really love the support and the community that this major creates. Like, we have our own Minecraft server. That’s crazy.
I’ve enjoyed my time in EPIB. It covers a wide range of interesting and relevant material, and the community is incredible.