February 15, 2021
Mizzou Engineering alumna Emily Pagel at a water pump station in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photo courtesy of Emily Pagel.
Emily Pagel, BS IE ’19, is putting her industrial engineering degree to work as a technology consultant for Rockwell Automation in Denver. There, she helps with implementation, troubleshooting product migrations and creating projects for clients.
“I support their variable frequency drives and kinetic servo drives and motors,” she said. “This includes any heavy industry like oil and mining.”
It’s fitting work for someone who knew from an early age she wanted to pursue an engineering degree. Pagel, from Kansas City, Mo., has had lifelong interests in mechanics, mathematics and physics. She opted to focus on industrial engineering because of career opportunities within the field.
“I thought industrial engineering would give me the widest breadth for opportunities later on (in my career),” Pagel said. “I thought it would give me an advantage to get a little piece of every part of engineering.”
In addition to her work duties, Pagel is also demonstrating leadership at Rockwell, helping the firm with diversity and inclusion efforts with employee resource groups.
“I’ve been able to host a couple events for diversity and inclusion efforts, which would be my biggest impact on Rockwell right now,” she said.
Campus Experience
Being a leader is nothing new to Pagel. During her time at Mizzou, she held leadership positions within her sorority, Gamma Phi Beta. As an example of her leadership capabilities, she developed safety plans for her sorority, including active on-campus threats, tornado and fire evacuation plans.
She also performed award-winning research as an undergraduate honors student alongside IMSE Assistant Professor Suchi Rajendran.
“I was able to present this research at a conference hosted by The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. We competed with our research and I received some additional funding for the research,” Pagel said. “This was my proudest accomplishment while at Mizzou.”
As a senior, Pagel attended Mizzou Engineering’s Career Fair and learned about Rockwell Automation and their job and internship openings.
“The Career Fair really shows you all the different opportunities in engineering. I had no idea of all the different applications for the engineering mindset,” she said. “It was eye opening to learn how many paths engineers could take.”
Pagel encourages current and future Mizzou Engineering students to not limit yourself to personal and career opportunities just within your field of study. As a personal example, Pagel participated in Mizzou Alternative Breaks and the experiences positively impacted her life.
“Keep your mind and options open,” she said. “We’re lucky enough as engineers to choose our own career path, which is powerful.”