Student Spotlight

Lilly Williams, a junior from Roswell, Georgia, grew up hearing about BYU as an affordable and high-quality option for college. After two of her siblings attended, Lilly felt that BYU was the right place for her too.

However, she wasn’t initially sure which major to join. As Lilly looked through a list of BYU’s programs, chemical engineering caught her eye. She enjoyed chemistry and wanted a practical degree, so she decided that chemical engineering would be a great fit. Since then, Lilly has been very involved in her major both in and outside of the classroom.

As a sophomore, Lilly participated in the BE Together Research Mentorship program. She worked for Professor Knotts in the DIPPR Lab, helping to create an important database of properties of chemical compounds. Lilly has also served as a teaching assistant for multiple chemical engineering classes.

Last summer, Lilly was an intern for Valero’s environmental engineering group at their Memphis refinery. She thoroughly enjoyed it, so much so that she will be returning this summer! Lilly says that her internship provided her with great hands-on experience. It also helped her gain a deeper understanding of concepts she had learned in class as she applied abstract ideas on a more tangible level.

Lilly has many great tips for other engineering students. She says, “I wish I could go back to freshman me and say, ‘Stop procrastinating, go to TA hours!’” Lilly has found that talking to TAs helps her save time, understand confusing problems, and make friends in her major. Lilly has also found the priorities feature on Learning Suite to be extremely useful. It helps her see exactly what she needs to do every day and stay organized.

Outside of engineering, Lilly loves to sing and dance. She is a member of BYU’s Rhythm N’ Soul Collective, an Africana performing team that showcases music from across the African diaspora. Lilly participates in both the dance group and the gospel choir section. She is even in the leadership for the group and will be a co-president next year. In addition to dancing, Lilly loves hanging out with her family and friends and especially loves going out to eat and trying new places. She recommends Spicy Thai for anyone who loves Thai food!

We are so thankful to have Lilly as a student in the College of Engineering.