Aidan Pinto Shares Her Student Experience

Aidan Pinto is a chemical engineering major and swimmer for the Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team. Pinto spent her junior summer as a research and development intern at PepsiCo in Plano, Texas. Her interest in the position began long before she enrolled at Carnegie Mellon but she used her CMU leverage and the Society of Women Engineers mentorship program to land the job.

Tell us about your internship at PepsiCo.

I worked on the Breakthrough Process Function Team to analyze a novel heating method's viability in savory snack making. I worked with a broad range of other teams and stakeholders to develop exploration and share findings.

How did you find this opportunity?

I used the Society of Women Engineers mentorship program to reach out to PepsiCo Engineers and hear about their work.

Why did this internship interest you?

I have always been interested in Food Science and wanted to get industry experience with a large company. PepsiCo has a wide range of products within its portfolio and I was excited to work with such a well-known company. I actually wrote my college essay on my passion for food science and making the next Dorito, so working at PepsiCo in the Frito-Lay R&D division was a full-circle moment for me.

Where do you see this internship leading you in your career path?

I really enjoyed working at PepsiCo this past summer, and am excited to continue exploring opportunities for Chemical Engineers within the food industry. 

How did your classes prepare you for this opportunity?

Working with my classes prepared me with the technical skills to understand large-scale processes and the theoretical concepts that I faced this summer. Specifically, Heat and Mass Transfer, and Thermodynamics added to my knowledge base. Unit Operations and The Magic of Food also prepared me for the plant-based processes I was able to see at PepsiCo.

What do you attribute most to being a successful student-athlete?

Time management is the most important part of being a successful student-athlete. Being able to prioritize all of my tasks is vital to balancing school work, practice, self-care and social priorities.