An Interview With Two Student Leaders at Auburn

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Shaheen Pouya and Padmanava Choudhury proudly represent the student leadership

At Auburn University in Alabama, I connected with both Shaheen Pouya, the newly elected IPC student chapter president, who is pursuing a PhD in industrial engineering, and Padmanava Choudhury, the outgoing IPC student chapter president, a graduate research assistant and a fifth-year PhD student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is pursuing a doctoral degree in the reliability of electronics packaging.

The uniqueness of this student-centered approach inspires us. Our program evolves and grows as we attract more talented and passionate student influencers who are interested in pursuing careers in electronics manufacturing. We salute the high caliber of student leaders at Auburn University and extend our gratitude to the impeccable chapter advisors, staff, and mentors endorsing the IPC Student Chapter program on campus.

Charlene Gunter du Plessis: Why did you decide to serve in this leadership capacity?

Shaheen Pouya: Because I wanted to be part of a great team and organization. I have been engaged in student organizations for a long time. By nature, these kinds of organizations have people working in them for a limited time—we all eventually graduate. I want to make sure that whoever joins our team and helps with events will experience a welcoming, professional, and warm community. IPC has a lot of potential both professionally and interpersonally, and I want to take that potential to its maximum.

Charlene: What are the most valuable benefits of IPC student membership?

Shaheen: This is an easy question. When I first started working with this chapter, I was amazed by the spirit and support from IPC to the student chapter. Everything was friendly and easy. Regardless of the IPC benefits for courses and certificates, it was the support and friendliness from IPC that made me want to join. Even though networking is very important, it is the feeling that there is an organization that cares for and supports you.

Charlene: What are your career aspirations?

Shaheen: After I earned my undergraduate degree, I worked for 12 years, and have now continued working while earning my master’s degree. I have had many different positions in the industry, from a salesperson to a process engineer, from a project control officer to a CEO. I even started a company and ran it for more than five years before I sold it and came back to school. My career aspirations are to make things better. I want to bring advancements into the engineering world and help younger engineers develop their ideas. Maybe I will do R&D for a company that cares about that aspect or work for a cutting-edge technology-based organization. There are still many unknown parameters, but one thing for sure is that I have never found any sector in the industry as exciting and interesting as electronics manufacturing.

Charlene: What degree are you pursuing and why?

Shaheen: I have been working for quite a while, and now is a good time to take it to the next level and help the engineering world fundamentally. A good engineer can bring a significant change to our lives, and I needed to be back at a university to do that. I am pursuing a PhD in industrial engineering, and I will use that title the way it is designed to be used: for inspiration and creation.

Charlene: How do you plan to lead as president of your student chapter?

Shaheen: First, I want to create team spirit by having a good and strong team. Being an IPC member also provides countless benefits, and fortunately, we have many members who are highly involved in every process, decision, and plan we have. There are a lot of good relations between most of the team members because they are working in similar labs every day.

I try to make the meetings as much fun as possible and, accordingly, the members are very motivated and helpful. It works in two ways. First, as a team, we make the most of the potential that IPC offers. Second, there is a good feeling of being a part of a team, which is significantly higher among younger students. Imagine a group that helps develop engineering techniques in any field with members who enjoy spending time together while also benefiting from that organization. This has made it very easy to decide to join.

Charlene: Why is it important for a school to have a student chapter?

Shaheen: There are so many benefits and good memories that students can only get through a chapter like this. A chapter also helps spread the word about IPC and gets younger students involved.

Charlene: What advice do you have for other students in your position?

Shaheen: My advice is to enjoy and love the job you’re doing. It’s a great opportunity to manage an organization without thinking about salaries, jobs, taxes, and things like that, while working with members of a similar age and surprisingly having a lot of free time for fun. No matter how scientific and professional it might sound, there is always room for joy.

Charlene: What has been the highlight of your term as chapter president?

Padma Choudhury: The highlight was the first seminar we organized. It was about wire harness and our speaker was Jackie Perry. It was a very interesting talk, mainly because it was about a topic we didn’t have much exposure to, and we learned about the various options available to us. Another highlight was the job board discussion we had with you, Charlene. It was very refreshing because you understand the difficulties of being an international student.

Charlene: How involved are the members of your chapter?

Padma: We used to have weekly chapter meetings, often for no other reason than to meet, have coffee, and have some fun with each other.

Charlene: Why do you think students should join a chapter?

Padma: Because of services and help from IPC, such as access to IPC member companies, scholarships, and courses that help us brush up on the broader aspects of packaging.

Charlene: What did you struggle with during your term as president?

Padma: The major struggle was with time availability. Most of our members are graduate students, so having time to meet when they are already doing lab work was difficult for our members.

Charlene: How have you grown personally through this experience?

Padma: It has helped me learn how to make decisions quickly and actively listen to others.

Charlene: What is the best part of being part of the IPC Student Chapter at Auburn?

Padma: Meeting people from various departments. Thanks to being in a leadership position, I have met a lot of new people here, both students and administrators. I’ve also met you and your team, which has been very nice.

Charlene: What advice do you have for Shaheen and the other leaders?

Padma: Something I wanted to do was reach out more to undergrads and show them the benefits of electronics because it would help the electronics packaging industry to improve vastly.

Charlene: What makes a chapter successful?

Padma: It’s successful when the members are dedicated, driven, and disciplined to promote our chapter and the overall industry.

To learn more about the IPC Education Foundation, please visit www.ipcef.org. This article originally appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of IPC Community.