Honors mechanical engineering聽major Scott Penfield has traveled extensively on two continents besides North America 鈥� and hopes to add a fourth before long.
He鈥檚 traveled to Peru six times, first as a high school student and later as a summer staff member and trip leader for Strive Trips, a company that specializes in study abroad and community service programs for high school and college athletes. He toured neighboring countries, including Bolivia and Ecuador, before or after those trips, and became fluent in Spanish.
Travel opened Penfield鈥檚 eyes to the needs of the developing world and helped him to find his path after he left Case Western Reserve University midway through his sophomore year. At CWRU, he had competed in track and field and majored in statistics, because he liked math. But he realized that he didn鈥檛 want to work in data science 鈥� and didn鈥檛 know what he wanted to do instead.
鈥淚f I had to sit at a computer for eight hours a day and type code, I think I鈥檇 go insane,鈥� he says.
So he decided to take a gap semester, which turned into a gap of four years. It wasn鈥檛 wasted time. He worked and traveled for three years, and then did a formal gap year program 鈥渢o turbocharge my travel experiences.鈥澛�
Through that program, Penfield spent one semester studying in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, and the next semester interning for a nonprofit organization in Brazil, doing environmental conservation work in the rainforest and improving on the Brazilian Portuguese he鈥檇 learned from his co-workers at a pizza restaurant back home in Westford, Mass.
By that time, he鈥檇 decided to study engineering.
鈥淓ngineering still has that underlying math and science component, but it鈥檚 more hands-on and there are more opportunities for real-life application. I feel like I can be of most use by getting into the field of renewable energy,鈥� he says.
鈥淥nce I鈥檇 decided that, applying to UMass Lowell was almost a no-brainer. It鈥檚 close to home, it鈥檚 good value and it has a good engineering program.鈥�
Now, Penfield is majoring in聽聽mechanical engineering聽and minoring in energy engineering. He leads hiking and backpacking trips for the outdoor adventure program within Campus Recreation 鈥� and he鈥檚 taking advantage of Honors College study abroad trips to Cuba and Spain.
He visited Cuba for 11 days over winter break with a small group led by Honors Visiting Prof. Julian Zabalbeascoa. The experience, enhanced by lots of reading on Cuban history and culture ahead of time, was so interesting that he signed up for the three-week Honors College summer聽study abroad聽program in San Sebastian, Spain, also led by Zabalbeascoa.聽
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Sebastian trip was canceled. Penfield enrolled instead in an online course in Basque history and culture聽taught by Zabalbeascoa 鈥� and says that he鈥檚 now more excited than ever to visit the area in person, when study abroad resumes.
Soon, he鈥檚 slated to start a six-month co-op in quality assurance and testing at Entegris. After that, he will begin working on an honors capstone project involving nuclear or wind energy, and he will decide whether to go on for a master鈥檚 degree in mechanical or nuclear engineering through the B.S.-to-M.S. program.
The Honors College has broadened his college experience, he says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good opportunity to expand my academic pursuits, rather than be narrowly focused in engineering,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey encourage students to do things outside of their major, and the really cool study abroads are an added bonus.鈥�