Meet Elizabeth Seader, Engineering Management's 2020 Outstanding Senior

This year’s departmental convocation ceremonies, switched to a virtual format at the 11th hour due to COVID-19 restrictions, were truly one of a kind. They also celebrated a class that was one of a kind.

Members of the Class of 2020 conducted research on aircraft design, water quality and the science of soundwaves. They built canoes out of concrete. They worked to make mines safer, biomedical devices more efficient, and our campus – and our world – more sustainable. They mentored classmates and competed in national competitions. At the ceremonies, the college honored an outstanding graduating senior from each of its 15 majors.

Outstanding senior in engineering management Elizabeth Seader, who minored in systems engineering, wasn’t sure what she wanted to major in when she started college, but the lifelong University of Arizona fan knew she was good at math, and she liked helping people.

“At orientation, one of the professors said, ‘Engineers are people who make things that help people,’ and I just thought, ‘This is perfect. This is exactly where I need to be.’”

Seader excelled in her major. She joined the American Society for Engineering Management, or ASEM, and competed at the organization’s national conference. Her capstone team designed a slide randomizer for sponsor Roche Tissue Diagnostics that won for best design documentation at the virtual Craig M. Berge Engineering Design Day 2020.

She started interning as a supplier engineer for Raytheon in summer 2019, and, by October, the company had offered her a position as a systems engineer at its Boston location. She invited company representatives to a campus ASEM career night, and they ended up offering jobs to three more students.