Erica Rice

Major: Chemical Engineering

Hometown: Elgin, IL

Update 7/26/06

I’ve been out in the Pacific Northwest for almost three months now. I’ve learned a lot about paper making, chemical engineering, and myself! Weyerhaeuser Co. makes a lot more products than I had ever anticipated. Sectors of the company range from real estate and forestry to making the pulpy material that goes inside diapers.

While here, I’ve worked on projects that include:

• genetically engineering the trees that the company plants in its forests
• simulating different methods in the lumber business for statistical analysis
• working on the computer making control interfaces for use in the manufacturing environments (i.e., paper and pulp mills)
• doing techical work in a bleaching lab (think high-tech chemistry lab!)
• designing procedures and implementing testing as well as talking and working with customers/consumers in a Radio Frequency ID lab (RFID tags will replace UPC barcodes in the future!)

Outside of work, I’ve explored the surrounding area quite a bit. Some family and friends from Illinois and Indiana have visited me in Seattle. We’ve done many exciting and adventurous things! I’ve been to Mt. Rainier, the Tacoma Glass Museum, and the Pike Street Market. The most adventurous thing I’ve done was sailing on the Puget Sound in a big Catamaran!

I’ve also become involved with a local church and youth group. Also, I volunteer at a local mission for struggling families, the Tacoma Rescue Mission. Weekly, I work with girls aged 4-16 and teach them about the importance of girl power and friendship. We go to the park, write in journals, and work on craft projects-we just tie-dyed last week!

I’m greatly anticipating my return to Purdue for another fun and exciting semester. I just hope that our football team does better this season! Toot toot! Boiler up!