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College of Natural Resources
Forest Biomaterials

Joe McDonald – Class of ’16

September 25, 2019
student intern

Joe McDonald graduated from NC State in 2016 with a dual degrees in Paper Science Engineering & Chemical Engineering and a minor in Business.  We reached out to Joe to find about his current career, and advice for current students.  Thanks for your time and sharing Joe!

Experiences at NC State

  • Internship/co-op experience: RockTenn: Fernandina Beach, FL Summer-fall 2012, EDT: Atlanta, Ga Summer 2013, Exxon Mobil: DC & Baton Rouge Summers 2014 & 2015
  • Best memory at State: All those crazy conversations hanging in the TAPPI student lounge between classes.
  • Worst memory at State: Discovering my bike was stolen the morning after my first all-nighter. Freshman year is hard y’all.
  • Clubs/Hobbies: TAPPI!!!!, Ultimate Frisbee, Reppin PSE, My Church.
  • Favorite Class(s): PSE360 – Dr. Jameel’s awesome unit ops class. I can still do a boiler heat balance upside-down, on a napkin, in a bar.
  • Favorite part of PSE Program:  Everything. Community, Professors, Classes, Labs, Jobs, Alumni. You’re a part of the family from the first day on campus till forever after. Even across the country meeting a fellow PSE’er is meeting an instant family member.
  • Most important thing PSE taught me: The value of your education is how you use it. Knowledge alone won’t get you very far, but applying knowledge to create positive change is the key to engineering, career and lots of life.

Current Career Information

  • Company/job position: Exxon Mobil, Reactor Engineer
  • Years in current role: April 2018; employed with Exxon since graduation
  • Biggest accomplishment in your career: Leading my plant’s critical path utilities projects in the first ever total site turnaround in it’s 50 year history.

What other positions have you held

  • Utilities engineer 2016-mid 2017, Flare engineer mid 2017-Apr 2018

What is your advise for current students

  • Be Bold and Crazy, Play Frisbee at 2 AM when it starts to snow. Start a dorm-wide movement to change something. Tell your professor to let you teach a lecture> Sign up for that weird philosophy class. Completely ignore the rules of an assignment, but do an even better job on it your way. The memories you’ll keep after college won’t be all those days you did what was expected of you. It will be the crazy fun adventures, that really deep class discussion, or the time you broke the rules to make them better.  Invest in community – PSE, Church, wherever. Having friends around you who can challenge you to be your best. Will have a bigger impact on your happiness and success than anything you can do on your own.

Personal Information

  • Hometown: Fernandina Beach, FL
  • Family: My Dad CA McDonald is an incredible father, engineer, leader, mentor and friend. He taught me basically everything important I’ve ever learned. When I want to sound smart, I just quote him. I still hope to grow up to be like CA.
  • Hobbies/interests: My Church Family, Impacting Inner City Baton Rouge, Dialog on Race Louisiana, Ultimate Frisbee