Kelly Hentges Age: 20
Student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
UNDER THIRTY E
ngineering today comes with social responsibili- ties to make the world a better place, and Kelly Hentges, 20, a chemical engineering student at the University of Illinois, epitomizes that fact. From a young age, Kelly was always drawn to sci- ence, a fact that was partly influenced by the fact both her parents work in the Engineering Telecommunica- tions industry. “Science began as a fun hobby when I was little; it then grew to a lifelong passion,” she told Manufacturing Engineering. As a 12-year-old, Kelly stood out among her peers as an enthusiastic learner and natural leader, said Ana Kamath, a science teacher at Plum Grove Junior High in Rolling Meadows, IL, and one of several professionals to nominate Kelly for the 30 Under 30 honor. “Kelly had a natural affinity to sci- ence,” she wrote.
In both the 7th and 8th grade, Kelly attended the “Girls Adventure in Math Science and Engineering Camp” at the University of Illinois. In her second year at the camp, she learned about chemical engineering and was hooked. “I thought it was amazing, how products we use every day are created by engineers,” Kelly said. When she was 15, Kelly received the Girl Scout
Gold Award, a rare honor for someone that age, through her volunteering for the “Women in Need Growing Stronger” program, which supports victims of domestic violence. Kelly had decided to build a large sustainable vegetable garden to help provide families with healthy food. The project required a great deal of planning, in terms of produce selection and in creat- ing a large scale garden that could be easily managed. “The garden still stands and is being used to provide produce to many homes throughout the Chicagoland area,” Kamath wrote.
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ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | July 2014 “Science began as a fun
hobby when I was little; it then grew to a lifelong passion.”
While in high school, Kelly also was selected to enroll in the Project Lead the Way Engineering Program. Initially, she was hesitant about participating. “I was one of four girls out of 40 students,” she explained. But she noted that “engineering forces you to work with one another to solve problems.” Ultimately, she said, the program ended up being a “blast” because “we were given numerous design challenges that helped develop our creative engineering skills.” Paul J. Hardy, Applied Technology Department Chairman at William Fremd High School in Palantine, IL, said Kelly stood out: “I remember her insatiable quest for betterment and how contagious it was.” In the summer of 2013, Kelly participated in a co-op program at Kimberly-Clark Corporation where Kelly said she worked on fun, cutting-edge development
of next generation processing equipment. “This summer, I will be at Abbott Laboratories,” she said. “My internship focus will go beyond Research and Development, into taking a newly designed product through the technology transfer process to mass production. I know manufacturing is a key area that I want to pursue.” But Kelly’s dedication doesn’t stop there. As a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Kelly has been part of a team that is design- ing a car powered by two chemical reactions, wrote Arkaprava Dan, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a member of the Out- reach Committee of the Society of Women Engineers at the U of I, she also introduces elementary and middle school students to the world of engineering. “This," Dan wrote, "is born out of her passion for engineering and industry,” ME
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