Felicia Tan knew the value of a University of Tennessee education. Her dad worked at UT when she was young, and her aunt attended the university. Extending the family legacy one more generation required a lot of work and sacrifice.
Tan’s family moved from Knoxville to Indonesia when she was six years old. She returned to the United States 14 years later with her younger brother, Edward, so they both could pursue a college degree.
“Both of us wanted to be engineers, and we knew we’d have a better chance of growing our career in the United States compared to where we were back in Indonesia,” Tan said. “We knew there were more opportunities here for us and we wanted to do anything we could to make it possible.”
The siblings took a year off from school to get full-time jobs once they returned to Knoxville to afford tuition. They each worked 90 hours a week at multiple restaurant jobs to save enough money to enroll in Pellissippi State Community College before transferring to UT.
Felicia, 26, is now a rising senior chemical engineering major in TCE and Edward, 23, is a computer engineering major.
“It was a lot, but it was worth it. We didn’t have much coming to the US, and that was the only way we could really afford our education,” said Felicia Tan, who still works at the POD Market on campus. “It has slowed down a bit since, but we still try to have enough income to pay our bills and other expenses. Thankfully, we have some sort of scholarship and some aid.”
Building a Bright Future
Felicia Tan is spending her second straight summer serving a three-month internship at Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee, an opportunity she learned about at the college’s annual Engineering Expo.
Tan is part of the reactions and separations engineering group at Eastman, where she is helping find a way to purify solvents through the use of membranes. She is also working on a sustainability project focused on reducing carbon and promoting hydrogen production.
“It definitely gives me more experience in the field, which I am really grateful for,” Tan said. “My mentors this summer have been extremely helpful. They are always willing to answer questions, and it’s been a great learning process. They guide you every step of the way and don’t rush you.”
Sriraam Ramanathan Chandrasekaran is Tan’s technical mentor at Eastman. He’s been impressed with how quickly Tan’s been able to understand elements of the project and then conduct experiments in the laboratory.
“If she doesn’t understand something or has any questions, she’s very proactive at getting those questions to me and trying to understand what it means,” Chandraskeran said. “She’s really curious in learning what it is and she’s asking the right questions too, which to be a good engineer or a researcher, is very critical.”
Tan and her brother didn’t stop speaking English when they moved to Indonesia so they wouldn’t be behind if they ever returned to the US. Although she’s happy to be back in the city where she was born and attending UT, Tan is grateful for her childhood experiences.
“Growing up in Indonesia was amazing. Not a lot of people have it easy, and a lot of people have to work really hard to get where they are,” she said. “Just seeing that culture has definitely had a huge impact on my life. It shows me what can happen if you do work hard and the satisfaction you get once you achieve it.”
Contact
Rhiannon Potkey (865-974-0683, rpotkey@utk.edu)