She may be new to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE), but Mackenzie Sissel is no stranger to the neighborhood.
CBE’s new academic advisor holds a bachelor’s degree from ISU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. While in that department, “I was drawn to the instruction and student engagement side of things,” she says, “so for graduate school I decided to study higher education student affairs.” She earned a master’s degree in that discipline from Iowa State.
While in mechanical engineering she completed a practicum with the Academic Program for Excellence (APEX) for incoming multicultural first-year students and was an instructor in Engineering 101. As a graduate student she worked as an assistant in the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) program and completed an advising practicum in mechanical engineering.
“I still like to practice my mechanical engineering,” she laughs, “by doing lots of woodworking and home improvement construction projects.” Originally from Chanhassen, MN, Mackenzie is getting married in September to an Iowa State agricultural and biosystems engineering grad. She enjoys running, reading (“any kind of material, but I like to browse the teen reading section at a library to keep up with what young people are reading”), and loves coffee and tea, especially bubble tea.
