Engineering Alumni Council

Letter from the EAC President

July 2024

Dear Duke Engineering Alumni,

In our closing meeting for this past term, I was faced with another beautiful spring in North Carolina. Cool mornings and warm afternoons set the stage for the most action-packed weekend in our calendar.

• Students reminded us at the Student Design Fair that with passion, energy, and grit that we can tackle almost any problem that stands in our way, from cancer detection to climate change prevention.
• Mentor and mentee relationships elicited conversations and guidance that will hopefully extend far past graduation.
• Alumni Award winners showed us that, beyond excellence, it takes communities, families, and coworkers to make a difference in businesses and on the world around (and above!) us.
• Student projects confirmed that, with great teaching and leadership, Duke Engineers can have tremendous amounts of fun while learning – whether they’re building robots, launching rockets, or improving living standards around the world.
• And we were reminded that nothing caps off a weekend like a test drive and BBQ (maybe next year the Motorsports team will let me teach some drifting!).

All of this action could not happen without the great volunteers amongst our alumni community that give their time and skill to students, Duke, and fellow alumni.  Every single point of engagement is an opportunity for our alumni base to find new and different ways where you can help enrich those around you. A few such opportunities include:

• Join the EAC: Help shape all the wonderful programs we run and join one of the committees.
• Mentor a Student: Join the mentorship program and have really fun conversations with a current student, offering a few of your learnings along the way.
• Review a Resume and Participate in a Mock Interview: Give a little time to help a student present themselves optimally in their most exciting job opportunities.
• Advise a Student Project: Take your skills directly to a team with passions just like yours or even fund a student to travel to a competition.
• Go to a Regional Event: Hang out with fellow local alumni, potentially even mentoring a recent graduate.
• Nominate an Award Winner: Think about your network and let us know if someone is distinguished in their field or served the Pratt School of Engineering.

Finally, I would like to recognize a few departing members of the EAC for their active engagement and support of our initiatives over the past decade.

Tracy Nickelsburg E’88, P’22, P’25 is finishing out her term as past-president, having led the EAC through a few virtual years without any reduction in impact and continuing to serve as a wealth of knowledge for all things EAC.

In addition, Rachel Fleming E’12, X’13 led our membership committee, Ben Aitken E’02, L’06, led our regional committee, and Matt Tiberii E’15 supported student projects. Thank you all for your tireless service to Pratt and the Engineering Alumni Association.

If you have any questions about ways you can volunteer with students and other alumni, please reach out to pamela.hanson@duke.edu or me to get involved!

Thank you to all the Pratt alumni who help elevate the school, current students, and fellow alumni. Go Duke!

Drew Romes E’02, B’10
President, Engineering Alumni Council