Orbiting Success

When it comes to career aspirations, Class of 2018 Mechanical Engineering graduate Carrie Deline is shooting for the stars. Hailing from Denver, Colorado, Carrie recently launched herself into the professional sphere as a Systems Engineer at Raytheon. The role comes on the heels of a successful summer internship with the industrial defense contractor at their nearby El Segundo offices.

“My goal is to one day have my name on a project that gets sent into space,” Carrie said, who works primarily with optics destined to go on satellites. “And I definitely think that the leadership and communication skills I learned at LMU will help get my name off the ground.”

Originally drawn to the bluff for its Jesuit roots and smaller size, Carries says that LMU’s top-ranked College of Science and Engineering and close proximity to the tech and aerospace industries were the perfect gateway for her career path.

“I absolutely loved my LMU experience,” Carrie said. “The class sizes are small enough that I got to know all my peers, every professor, and I found the ability to take classes outside my major with students pursuing a range of fields much to my benefit.”

For example, Carrie says that her Rhetorical Arts class polished her public speaking and presentation skills, both useful when working on her senior capstone project and now on the job. Such outcomes in the classroom are wonderfully commonplace on the bluff, touting average class sizes of 19 and a student to faculty ratio of 10 to 1.

A particular highlight of Carrie’s LMU experience was spending a semester abroad in Bonn, Germany with the Engineering Track, a program that aims to expose students to the country’s exciting technological and artistic work, as well as immerse themselves in the lifestyle and culture.

“It was incredible,” Carrie said. “I was able to travel to eleven different countries in the course of a semester – something you don’t get to do very often.”

More than 36 percent of Lions satisfy their wanderlust through LMU’s Study Abroad office, providing transformative experiences around the globe.

In addition to being a standout in the classroom, Carrie was named Scholar of the Year by the Collegiate Panhellenic Council, the student coordinating body for the seven National Panhellenic Conference sororities represented at LMU. Carrie was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Engineering Honor Society Tau Beta Pi, and Alpha Phi sorority during her time at LMU.

As for what advice Carries has for future Lions?

“Speak up,” she said, “when you don’t know the answer, and when you do – get involved in as much as you can to figure out where your passions lie, friends will follow.”