Joshua Chebeda

I am a student at Columbia University in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) completing the 2-year portion of my 3-2 program at an accredited university. I was a chemistry major and math minor at St. Lawrence University and am now majoring in chemical engineering at Columbia in Manhattan, New York. Currently, I am taking an introductory chemical engineering (ChemE) course on top of the traditional junior year chemE course load (principles of ChemE: thermodynamics, transport phenomena, analysis of ChemE problems, and inorganic chemistry).

My experience with/in the LAS Scholars program was extremely beneficial! Starting with my first year, I formed close bonds to other students in STEM who were not necessarily in my field but nevertheless had very similar interests regarding what we wanted to do in STEM or simply even what we found interesting in STEM. Although LAS Scholars were not obligated/required to meet frequently after the first two semesters, students could always reach out to the professors involved in the program and ask questions about courses or career options or research opportunities! Through this program I also had the opportunity to learn about different career fields from people in the field and the professors in the program were always eager to share what their research and interests in STEM were. Thanks to the time and resources invested by the program, I had a very beneficial experience at St. Lawrence University.