From Acting to Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon Was Always the Place for Sandy Payne ‘90

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – When Sandy Payne was in second grade, she decided she was going to attend Carnegie Mellon. An aspiring actress, the 7-year-old knew that Carnegie Mellon had one of the nation's finest drama programs, and she figured the Oakland campus was going to be the beginning of her journey to stardom.

A decade later, Payne did indeed enroll at Carnegie Mellon, but her acting dreams were no longer at the forefront of her mind. The Greensburg, Pa., native instead turned her attention to chemical engineering and the rest is history.

A 1990 graduate with a degree in chemical engineering and minor in biomedical engineering, Payne has gone on to achieve great things in the professional world. After spending the past couple of years as a distribution account manager for BASF, Payne was recently promoted to marketing manager for the company's Industrial Petro chemicals division.

Payne, who also spent time working for CIBA, credits her Carnegie Mellon education with helping her prepare for her career. The 1990 grad has traveled the world and spent time working in Switzerland from 2006-09.

"Carnegie Mellon definitely taught me to think outside of the box and look at things holistically," Payne said.

While she certainly worked hard in the classroom as a student, Payne also learned about hard work as a cross country and track student-athlete at Carnegie Mellon. Recently, Payne made a contribution to name the Dario Donatelli Tartan Award in honor of her former coach, who has been at the helm of the program for more than two decades. Payne's gift will help the athletics department continue toward its goal of endowing the annual awards banquet.

"Dario really taught me about discipline. He was wonderful and we all learned so much," Payne said. "Dario was a great runner himself and he could translate his running ability to help others. He has a phenomenal brain for numbers. He was the first full-time women's coach and gave us the basics and foundation. He deserves to be recognized for what he did for our team."

Since leaving Carnegie Mellon, Payne has competed in two marathons and has maintained a running regimen in order to stay balanced.

"I've been running ever since I left Carnegie Mellon. For the last 12 years, I've more or less managed to run 25 miles a week," said Payne, who is also an avid sailor and skier. "One of the things I learned at Carnegie Mellon was that participating in athletics helped me with my all-around well-being. I think it makes you more effective. When I run, it's my time away from the phone and computer. It's my time to work out problems and to look at things from a different perspective."

While her acting dreams didn't pan out, Payne did take an acting class for non-theater majors her final semester at Carnegie Mellon. Payne doesn't have any regrets about how she spent her four years on campus.

"I really like chemical engineering," Payne said. "I learned a lot at Carnegie Mellon. I learned about hard work."