Chemical Engineer — Sustainability & Supply Chain

Hi, I'm
Sophia.

B.S. Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University. Currently a Raw Materials Chemist at L'Oréal, with manufacturing experience and a minor in Science, Technology & Society. I came to supply chain through chemistry — and through two years of watching what actually happens between a sustainability strategy and a production floor.

Sophia
B.S.
Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University — Class of 2025
100+
Chemical quality tests per week in a live manufacturing environment
2,000+
Students reached through sustainability initiatives at CMU
2
L'Oréal roles — intern and current — with cross-functional project experience

Technical Foundation

ChemE systems thinking.

Trained to approach problems as systems — variables, constraints, trade-offs, and long-term consequences. From full chemical plant design to live manufacturing quality testing, the technical foundation is real and applied.

See projects →

Operational Experience

Plant floor grounding.

Currently inside L'Oréal's manufacturing operation — running quality tests, troubleshooting methods, improving lab efficiency. I understand what supply chain decisions look like from where they actually land.

About me →

Sustainability Focus

Where I want to contribute.

My minor in Science, Technology & Society and my sustainability project work give me a clear lens on where supply chain decisions intersect with environmental impact — and where they don't always line up.

See sustainability work →

Projects & Experience

Things I've built & done.

Senior Capstone · Carnegie Mellon

Pyrolysis Plant Design: Plastic Polymer Recycling

Full chemical plant design to convert LDPE plastic into sellable methane, ethane, and butene. 100+ page report with AspenPLUS modeling, mass/energy balances, profit analysis, and environmental impact assessment.

L'Oréal · Quality Improvement · 2024

Auto-Titrator Efficiency Framework

Identified inefficiencies in the Raw Materials Lab, created documentation and best practice work instructions, and trained the team — improving throughput and increasing instrument teachability for new employees.

L'Oréal · Intern Project · Summer 2024

Consumer Centricity Employee Engagement Program

Planned and managed a week-long cross-functional engagement program. Launched an R&I product showcase, designed promotional materials, and executed 14+ activities reaching employees across departments.

Competencies

Technical

Infrared Spectroscopy · Auto-Titration · TLC · HPLC · AspenPLUS · Python · Mass & Energy Balances · Process Design

Operations

Quality Testing · SOP Compliance · OSHA Standards · Process Improvement · Documentation · Lab Management

Professional

Cross-functional Collaboration · Technical Writing · Stakeholder Communication · Project Coordination · Training Design

Focus Areas

Supply Chain · Direct Sourcing · Sustainability Strategy · Circular Economy · Consumer & Industrial Products

Why supply chain, why now.

I didn't start with supply chain. I started with chemistry — the conviction that if you understand what something is made of and how it transforms, you understand most of what matters about it. Working on a manufacturing plant floor made that concrete: the distance between a company's sustainability goals and what actually happens in production lives in the supply chain. That's where I want to be — not writing the report about it, but in the room where the decisions get made.

I'm actively pursuing supply chain, direct sourcing, project management, and sustainability roles where I can bring technical engineering depth and real manufacturing operations experience.

2025–NowRaw Materials Chemist, L'Oréal Manufacturing — Industrial Quality
Summer 2024Operations Intern, L'Oréal
2025B.S. Chemical Engineering · Minor: Science, Technology & Society — Carnegie Mellon University
2021Science Writer, Energy for the Common Good
In ProgressProject Management Certification

Writing

Things
I've written.

I've always cared about making complex ideas understandable — not simplified, just translated. These pieces range from published articles to research papers to things I'm still working on. The common thread is trying to make something real feel real to someone who wasn't already convinced.

Science Communication · Energy for the Common Good · 2021

You've Seen This Before: Fusion in Science Fiction

I wrote this at 19 during an internship with Energy for the Common Good, a fusion energy nonprofit. The piece looks at how science fiction has shaped the way the public thinks about fusion — from Iron Man to Interstellar — and argues that cultural familiarity with an idea actually matters for whether people support it in the real world. It was my first real attempt at science communication for a general audience, and it taught me a lot about how to make technical ideas feel relevant to people who aren't scientists.

Read Article →

Bioethics · Research Paper · Carnegie Mellon Bioethics Program

Finding the Line Between Profit and Patients: The Ethics of Pharmaceutical Detailing

This came out of Carnegie Mellon's Bioethics Program — I was one of 12 students selected — and was developed in collaboration with the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. The paper looks at pharmaceutical detailing, which is the practice of marketing directly to physicians, and asks where the line sits between legitimate education and commercial influence. It also touches on direct-to-consumer advertising. It was published on the program's webpage and presented at a symposium.

Read Paper →

In Progress

Waste Does Not Exist: A Chemical Argument for Circular Industry

This is something I've believed since I first learned about conservation of mass. Matter doesn't disappear — it transforms. Which means what we call "waste" is really just matter whose next transformation we haven't figured out yet, or haven't bothered to prioritize. I want to write this piece for people who design products and supply chains, not just chemists — making the case that the circular economy isn't idealistic, it's just chemistry applied honestly.

Coming Soon

In Progress

The Trust Gap: Why Consumers Don't Believe Corporate Sustainability

Working in a manufacturing plant gives you a ground-level view of the distance between what gets announced in a sustainability report and what's actually happening on the floor. That gap is real, and consumers feel it even when they can't name it. I want to write about this honestly — what causes the trust gap, what it would actually take to close it, and why "better marketing" isn't the answer.

Coming Soon

In Progress

Redirecting the Machine: Oil Industry Infrastructure and the Circular Economy

I don't think the climate crisis is primarily an invention problem. A lot of what we need already exists — the infrastructure, the engineering expertise, even much of the capital — mostly inside the industries we're trying to move away from. This piece is about what redirection might actually look like, and why it's a more realistic path than waiting for something new to be built from scratch.

Coming Soon

Speaking · Not Online

Alumni Panels: College Process & Women in Engineering

I've spoken on two alumni panels — one about navigating the college application process across different personalities and backgrounds, and one specifically for students pursuing engineering. Both were conversations I genuinely enjoyed. There's something useful about being close enough to the beginning of your career that you still remember what the hard parts actually feel like.

Panels — Not Online

Technical Writing

I can write clearly about complex topics without losing the accuracy. Between my ChemE training and my minor in Science, Technology & Society, I've spent a lot of time translating between technical and non-technical audiences. I've also given feedback on peers' and mentees' writing and genuinely enjoy that part of the process.

Science Communication

Getting people to care about something they don't already care about is a communication problem, not an intelligence problem. I'm interested in that challenge — particularly around sustainability and energy, where the gap between what's scientifically understood and what the public feels is still pretty wide.

Want to work together?

If you're working on science communication, sustainability writing, or making technical ideas accessible to a broader audience — I'd love to connect. Always open to a conversation.

Email me LinkedIn

Projects

Things I've
built & done.

From full-scale chemical plant design to campus sustainability campaigns — these projects span my time at Carnegie Mellon, L'Oréal, and beyond. Use the filter to find what's most relevant to you.

Engineering · Senior Product Design · Carnegie Mellon

Maize Melt: Agricultural Byproduct Road Salt Alternative

Developed a hybrid mixture of agricultural byproduct and chloride salt to address the environmental harms of conventional road salt — including frequent potholes, toxic water runoff that harms wildlife, and drinking water quality degradation. Performed technical analysis for the "melting ice" functional requirement, generated eutectic point plots using Python (fsolve, matplotlib) using empirical literature data and the UNIQUAC model. Pitched product in writing and presentation. Conducted market research interviews. Demonstrates: product design with environmental purpose, quantitative modeling, and market awareness.

Sustainability · Climate Action · Carnegie Mellon

Campus Sustainability Operations & Green Practices Integration

As Sustainable Operations Coordinator for Carnegie Mellon's Climate Action Campaign, led and organized climate action events, partnered with national CAC initiatives, and gathered 1,500+ petition signatures within 3 months. Individual initiatives included: a full disposable food items inventory across 30+ on-campus independent eateries, and a Green Practices orientation presentation about recycling, composting, and campus climate action — launched at student orientation and reaching 2,000+ incoming first-year students. Demonstrates: grassroots sustainability organizing, systems auditing, and large-scale communications.

Engineering · Senior Capstone · Carnegie Mellon

Pyrolysis Plant Design: Plastic Polymer Recycling

Designed a full chemical plant to convert Low Density Polyethylene — the plastic used in bottle caps and detergent bottles — into sellable methane, ethane, and butene via pyrolysis and multi-step distillation. Final 100+ page report used AspenPLUS software and included mass and energy balances, profit analysis, sensitivity analysis, environmental impact assessment, and an optimization for Net Present Value. Presented final design to the industry community and university professors. Demonstrates: system-scale chemical engineering, environmental impact thinking, and technical communication.

Industry · Quality Improvement · L'Oréal 2025

Auto-Titrator Efficiency Framework

Created a documentation and efficiency framework for the auto-titrator in L'Oréal's manufacturing plant Raw Materials Lab. Identified procedural inefficiencies, streamlined technical workflows through documentation and software adjustments, developed work instructions for the company database covering troubleshooting and best practices, and delivered formalized training to the lab team with ongoing check-ins. Increased instrument teachability for new employees and aligned lab processes with plant production planning goals. Demonstrates: self-directed process improvement, technical writing, and training design in a live manufacturing environment.

Industry · Intern Project · L'Oréal Summer 2024

Consumer Centricity Employee Engagement Program

Planned and managed a "consumer centricity" week-long program to strengthen the employee-to-consumer connection at L'Oréal. Launched a novel in-person product showcase event from the Augmented Beauty R&I team, designed promotional materials, and executed 14+ interactive activities encouraging participation across departments. Led daily face-to-face engagement with employees from different teams. The goal: build a modern consumer-centric employee mindset from the inside out. Demonstrates: initiative, cross-functional collaboration, event design, and internal communication strategy.

Research · Analytical Chemistry · Carnegie Mellon

Diffusion Study: IMBIBER Beads for Oil Spill Cleanup

Studied the diffusion of gauge oil out of oil-absorbent IMBIBER beads manufactured for oil spill cleanup. Performed data analysis using fundamental diffusion laws — Fick's 2nd Law and the Korsmeyer-Peppas empirical model (1984). Explored applications in lipophilic and oleophilic drug delivery. Demonstrates: experimental design, mathematical modeling of physical phenomena, and cross-application thinking between environmental and pharmaceutical domains.

Engineering · Experimental · Carnegie Mellon

Red Wine Taste Contributor Analysis

Designed a complex experiment to test for taste contributors in red wines using HPLC and Ripper Titration analysis methods. Wrote an extensive experimental procedure, collected and analyzed data, and presented findings. Demonstrates: experimental design from first principles, analytical chemistry competency, and technical communication.

Engineering · Water Treatment · High School

Activated Carbon Water Stream Filter

Built and designed a water stream filter using activated carbon samples with varying textures from fine to coarse. Tested water purity levels and reached a marketable level of water purity. Analyzed the economics to demonstrate commercial viability. Demonstrates: early engineering intuition, materials selection, and applied chemistry for environmental purposes.

Sustainability · Policy · Carnegie Mellon

Campus Recycling & Composting Proposal

Wrote and submitted a formal proposal to Carnegie Mellon's Green Practices Committee to increase student awareness and utilization of recycling and composting options on campus. Combined policy writing, behavioral nudge thinking, and institutional advocacy. Demonstrates: sustainability systems thinking applied at the institutional level and comfort with formal policy communication.

Engineering · Software · Carnegie Mellon

Python Chess Engine with UI

Built a fully functional chess game in Python featuring castling, pawn promotion, and a flip board feature on player switch. Added a "ghost moves" visibility feature designed specifically for beginner players learning move logic. Built using TKinter graphics and Object-Oriented Programming principles. Demonstrates: software engineering fundamentals, OOP design, and the ability to build a complete working product from scratch — and an enduring love of chess.

Research · Cooper Union Summer STEM Program · High School

PETase Microbe: Plastic-Eating Biology in Local Ecosystems

Worked in a professional biotech lab at Cooper Union researching PETase — polyethylene terephthalate hydrolase — a microbe that breaks down PET plastic. Tested for microbe presence in local ecosystem samples from areas with high concentrations of plastic waste. Presented findings to the Cooper Union and greater NYC community, exploring how PETase could be used to address global plastic pollution. Demonstrates: early engagement with environmental biotechnology, lab research skills, and public science communication.

Interested in
connecting?

I'm actively looking for opportunities in supply chain, sourcing, project management, and sustainability roles. Happy to chat about any of these projects in more depth too.

Email me LinkedIn

Hi, I'm Sophia.

I grew up in New Jersey and went to Carnegie Mellon for Chemical Engineering — partly because I wanted a real challenge, partly because I wanted to get out of my hometown bubble. Both happened, and I'm glad.

ChemE at CMU changes how you think. You stop seeing problems as isolated things and start seeing them as systems — variables, constraints, trade-offs, downstream consequences. That lens has stuck with me well beyond the coursework, and it shows up everywhere: in how I approach supply chain problems, in how I play chess, in how I think about sustainability.

I also minored in Science, Technology & Society — essentially a study of how technology and human society push and pull on each other. Combined with engineering, it gave me a way to ask not just "does this work?" but "what does it do to people?" That turns out to be the more interesting question in most of the work I care about. Right now I'm at L'Oréal as a Raw Materials Chemist, actively working toward supply chain and sourcing roles where I can bring this technical and operational background to decisions that actually shape what gets made and how.

Dance Performed in two Dancer's Symposium showcases at CMU. I need to feel music physically — it's never been an intellectual exercise for me.
Soccer Defensive wing, CMU Women's Club Soccer. Reading the game early and cutting off problems before they develop — that comes naturally.
Chess Self-taught, purely positional player. Built a Python chess engine for fun. I like the slow build — quietly making it impossible for your opponent to find a good move.
Piano Picked it up early and took to it naturally. Structure and feel at the same time, two hands doing different things in service of one thing.
Poker The social psychology is the interesting part — reading what someone is building toward before they show it. The cards are almost incidental.
Speaking Two alumni panels — the college process and Women in Engineering. Took acting classes specifically to get better at storytelling. I think about how things land.

Perspective

Some things
I actually believe.

These aren't conclusions I arrived at through study — most of them I held intuitively before I had the language or science to back them up. I've always thought in connections: a principle from one place tends to show up somewhere else. Chemistry informing how I think about learning. Soccer defending informing how I think about supply chain risk. Chess informing strategy. That's not deliberate — it's just how my brain works. The ideas below are the ones that feel most central, coming from chemistry, observation, and caring about the gap between what companies say they're doing and what's actually happening. I studied ChemE with a minor in Science, Technology & Society — the technical side and the human side, and the friction between them. If any of this resonates, or if you disagree, I'd genuinely love to talk about it.

01

Everything, at its core, is chemistry.

I've believed this since 10th grade chemistry. Biology requires life. Physics requires movement. Chemistry only requires matter — which is everywhere, which is everything. It's the most foundational lens I know, and it's the one I keep coming back to when I'm trying to understand how something actually works underneath all the complexity on the surface.

02

Waste doesn't really exist.

Matter is never destroyed — it transforms. That's basic conservation of mass, and it means what we call "waste" is just matter whose next transformation we haven't figured out yet, or haven't prioritized finding. The circular economy isn't idealistic. It's just chemistry applied honestly to how we design products and supply chains. I think we'd make very different decisions if we started from that premise.

03

Impact has to be felt, not just demonstrated.

Data alone doesn't change how people feel about something. I care about this a lot in the context of sustainability — companies put out impressive numbers, but consumers don't feel that anything is different. That gap isn't a communications problem you can fix with better marketing. It's a gap between what's actually happening and what people experience. Closing it requires honesty first, then communication.

04

We already have most of what we need.

I don't think the climate crisis is waiting on a breakthrough invention. The knowledge exists. A lot of the infrastructure exists. The capital definitely exists — much of it inside the industries causing the problem. What's missing is the will and the mechanism to redirect those resources. That's a political and organizational challenge as much as a technical one. But it's a solvable one, which is why I still find it worth working toward.

05

Thought is a physical thing.

The brain is physical. The brain thinks. So thought is physical — neurons firing, synapses forming, physical bonds being made and strengthened. And I've noticed that I learn best by connecting new things to things I already know, which makes sense: it's easier for your brain to form a new connection at an existing node than to build something entirely from scratch. Learning through connection isn't just a study trick. It's how the underlying chemistry actually works.

"I think we already have most of what we need to make circular economy thinking a reality in every household. The harder problem is getting it pointed in the right direction."

This is where the chemistry worldview and the sustainability work come together for me. It's not about waiting for a breakthrough. It's about redirecting what already exists — and making it feel real and accessible to the people it's supposed to serve.

Contact

Let's
talk.

I'm actively looking for opportunities in supply chain, sourcing, sustainability, and project management. I'm also genuinely happy to connect with people working on related problems — even if there's no immediate opportunity involved.

Coffee chats welcome. Cold outreach welcome. I believe in them.

Email me directly Connect on LinkedIn

Roles I'm looking for

Supply Chain · Direct Sourcing · Project Management · Product Design & Development · Sustainability Strategy · Process Improvement

What I bring

ChemE systems thinking · Manufacturing plant floor experience · Science communication · Sustainability perspective · Storytelling · Cross-domain synthesis

Also happy to chat about

Circular economy · Consumer trust in sustainability · Science communication · Mentorship · Anyone working on industrial sustainability at scale

One last thing

"I want to make an impact — and for that impact to be felt."