Pictured above: Deep Patel, left, and Dhananjay (DJ) Dileep
Deep Patel and Dhananjay (DJ) Dileep each completed both a master’s and a doctorate in chemical engineering at Iowa State University. About 8,000 miles from Nirma University in India, where they both earned undergrad degrees, the two found research excellence and a community that feels like home in Ames.
They were among the first students to participate in an international collaborative education program between the two universities, which lets students concurrently finish a bachelor’s degree and start a master’s.
Great professors and a hunger for global educational perspectives drew them to Iowa State — which provided a rich experience, Deep says, “in terms of education, the skills that we acquired, the technology that we had, and the platform that it built for us to take off moving forward.”
In a snowstorm, a warm Iowa welcome
Deep’s first-ever plane ride brought him to the middle of an Iowa snowstorm in late 2019.
“I had no clue what to do,” he says of the trip, also his first time leaving India. A hotel offered a free night’s stay until he could safely get a ride to his Ames apartment — the first of many kind gestures that would show him that “people here are very genuine, and they are always willing to help, no matter what.”
Five years later, as Deep prepares to graduate and move on to a postdoctoral researcher position with hopes of becoming a professor one day, he says “leaving Ames will be a tough one,” but it’s time to take flight with the things he’s learned here.
“DJ’s Army”: A community of innovation
Coming to Ames from a city of 8 million people was quite the shift for DJ, but he found charm and kind neighbors in the smaller community.
“The moment that you realize that there’s people who are going be there for you if you trip — someone who offers you a hand and helps you get up — you want to be in that place,” he says.
A community of its own emerged through his research. From feeling unprepared to manage just one undergraduate research assistant to sheepishly asking Professor Eric Cochran for yet another the following semester, he has now mentored over 15 budding chemical engineers, lovingly deemed “DJ’s Army.”
As an offshoot of that research, DJ, Cochran, and Research Scientist Michael Forrester have founded ImPETus, a startup aimed at scaling technology to sustainably recycle PET plastics. DJ will continue at Iowa State as a postdoctorate while working to build the startup.
“That sense of discovery is just irreplaceable,” he says. “That’s what a Ph.D. offers you: It’s like a blank canvas in front of you and you go and paint.”
Building blocks for the future
Iowa State provided myriad opportunities to get involved beyond research, whether designing and teaching courses through Preparing Future Faculty, connecting through professional scholarship organizations, serving as grad teaching and research assistants, and even visiting local schools to talk about career opportunities in chemical engineering.
For other international students considering advanced engineering degrees at Iowa State, DJ and Deep point to their positive experiences with faculty who have a diverse set of engineering backgrounds, as well as good research facilities, and a low cost of living.
As DJ and Deep embark on their next steps, the two reflect on the experiences gained at Iowa State.
“We did research, coursework, mentorship, entrepreneurship, and the list goes on, to assess what excites us the most,” DJ says. “And sometimes the answer may not just be one thing. Iowa State offers opportunities so that you’re not curtailed to one specific area. I think in that way it primed us for what we want in life.”
Learn more about opportunities with international collaborative education programs at Iowa State.