By: Allison O’Donnell, Written Communications Specialist, UConn School of Engineering

Anna Marie LaChance is a third year PhD student in the Department of Chemical Engineering who is graduating from John Lof Leadership Academy this year. 

Currently, Anna researches nanocomposite materials in Dr. Luyi Sun’s lab. She is also in the Graduate Certificate in College Instruction (GCCI) program to prepare for a career in academia, hoping to become a faculty member one day. 

Anna educates others through the medium of her podcast, Rule 63– where she and her friend Danny discuss LGBTQ+ topics, science, religion, and politics. Since 2012, she has been invested in politics- in her own words, “Primary season is my March Madness and election night is my Super Bowl.” This interest has grown since her undergraduate years and transition in late 2017. 

Her identity as a trans person also translates to campus involvement- Anna is a member of the Rainbow Center Grads and Young Professionals group, the UConn chapter of Out In. STEM (oSTEM) and has been working on bringing a new outreach program, Queer Science, to UConn. The club will be focused on outreach to high school students that identify as queer and are interested in pursuing a degree in STEM.

In her own STEM education, Anna noticed there was a gap between job training and job expectations- extracurriculars are often overlooked when students reach graduate education. “In the real world, whether you’re going to industry, academia or other, you’ll have to lead a team, you’ll have to talk to people, you’ll have to network and do all these other things—that’s just not taught to graduate engineering students.”

JLLA’s program has a “For us, by us” structure that appealed to her and created a space to develop non-technical leadership skills, essential for strong leadership. Coming into the program, Anna knew she was a nervous presenter and wanted to change that. Now, Anna considers herself to be a confident speaker.

Receiving feedback from JLLA provides advice “you wouldn’t get from your lab mates who are focused on the technical content of your talk, if you were to practice in front of them. So I wish there were more programs like this at schools everywhere and in departments everywhere.”

Anna has developed a bond with the JLLA members, who she says  “have helped me to make myself a better version”. Creating and maintaining these personal connections with her colleagues is important to her, which is why she’s also the Vice President of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Graduate Student Association (CHEGSA), a student organization that hosts social and professional events for the graduate students, faculty, and staff of her department.

Anna regularly posts to her social media, including Twitter (@ThatAnnaMarie) and Instagram (@BourgeoisDecadence). She plans to take the lessons she learned in JLLA to other diverse communities within STEM, including her current undergraduate laboratory assistants, queer & trans youth in Connecticut through Queer Science, and all of her future teaching endeavors.

By: Allison O’Donnell, Written Communications Specialist, UConn School of Engineering

Tara Walsh is a fourth-year Ph.D. student from Boylston, Massachusetts. She is currently a GAANN Fellow in the Environmental Engineering program at UConn. Walsh has been researching power outage restoration in Connecticut in order to minimize the time and costs involved with storm recovery. 

Outside of her academic endeavors, Walsh enjoys doing “anything where [she is] not sitting still.” Her activities of choice are running, hiking and crossfit. She is also a member of the Student Association of Graduate Engineers (SAGE).

Walsh was encouraged to apply to JLLA by an environmental engineering professor, who even provided assistance with the application process. Her professor’s confidence in JLLA is what assured Walsh it would be a worthwhile program. 

“I needed to work on stepping out of my comfort zone, and all of the activities that we do at JLLA make me do that,” Walsh said. “So having the space to practice and the people who are willing to give feedback and help me grow has helped a lot.”

Now that she is in her final semester of JLLA, Walsh has had time to reflect on how the program has prepared her for a career in the engineering field. 

“It gives you the time and space to think about who you want to be professionally,” said Walsh. “You can work on getting there and filling in the gaps that we don’t otherwise have a way to work on.”

JLLA has introduced Walsh to potential career paths through networking with professionals and engineers from other departments. She says she has learned a lot about her leadership style through collaborating in workshops. 

One of the main takeaways she did not expect from the program was learning what her values are and how to incorporate them into a leadership style.

By: Allison O’Donnell, Written Communications Specialist, UConn School of Engineering

Christina Feng Chang is a third year Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering, and hails from Puerto Rico. Feng Chang can’t pinpoint the one reason why she chose UConn, but she knows exactly why she chose John Lof Leadership Academy. 

“JLLA is a worthwhile program because our workshops and meetings challenge us to think about things that we normally don’t have to think about,” said Feng Chang.  “As a JLLA member, you are also challenged to get out of your comfort zone and make an effort to improve on your weaknesses.”

Outside of JLLA, Feng Chang is the current Vice President of the Student Association of Graduate Engineers (SAGE). She actually decided to apply to JLLA after seeing it promoted at a SAGE event. 

Joining was a way for Feng Chang to become more involved on campus outside of conducting research, and was a great way of developing new relationships. Since starting JLLA, she describes herself as willing to assert herself.

 “Through JLLA, I have learned how to become more confident and more comfortable with myself and others,” said Feng Chang.

When she is not in class or the lab, Feng Chang enjoys simple, relaxing activities like watching Korean Dramas or playing a game of badminton. In order to de-stress, she plays the video game: League of Legends. 

Feng Chang is researching how to predict water quality in freshwater systems, specifically modeling and understanding harmful algal blooms and hypoxia through machine learning and numerical prediction models. 

Looking into the future, Feng Chang wants to use her academic knowledge and leadership skills to be “a good leader that people will look up to.”

By: Allison O’Donnell, Written Communications Specialist, UConn School of Engineering

Julia Czarnecki is a third-year Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering, and received a  bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Marist College: “Transitioning into engineering was a bit of a change,” said Czarnecki. “I like the more system-based, quantitative approach.” 

Czarnecki’s passion for the environment translates into how she spends her free time. She enjoys gardening and photographing nature. In her undergraduate years, she rowed the Hudson River for sport.

Her current research keeps her in touch with water resources, as it relates to alternate water sources for greenhouse agriculture and plant uptake of contaminants.  

JLLA has helped Czarnecki reign in her passion and tailor it towards being an active and effective leader. 

“I had a general idea about aspects of my leadership, but bringing that together and figuring out the leader I want to be was what I hoped to get out of JLLA,” said Czarnecki. “I definitely think I have a better idea now.”

She says that JLLA members have the ability to make it into whatever they want or need it to be. Different members have different leadership styles and different strengths, which is why it is so important that the program can accommodate this diversity. 

“I see the results [of JLLA] showing themselves immediately because you have to learn your strengths and weaknesses,” said Czarnecki. “I hold roles as a researcher and club president that I exercise my skills.”

As president of the Student Association of Graduate Engineers (SAGE), Czarnecki values the skills-based focus of JLLA. She says that there is a fundamental difference between the two programs.  

“John Lof has a set curriculum that works on individual leadership styles, where SAGE is more social, generic resources provided by the university… John Lof teaches us how to maintain connections with people and develop professional personas.”

Czarnecki says she joined JLLA because she wanted to supplement her educational progress with professional advancements. She wanted to have an outlet to work on herself to better prepare herself for when she graduates. 

“From high school to college, involvement is so important. But the transition from graduate school to the real world doesn’t develop students in a holistic way, which is what sets [JLLA] apart.” 

Looking into the future, Czarnecki is interested in performing agricultural research for the government. Although, she likes keeping her options open and is always willing to adapt to change.