As Rice University’s December graduates receive their degrees, they look to take on a wide range of challenges as they impart their wisdom gained at Rice on the world at large.
For some, their journeys will shift to graduate school. For many others, this monumental accomplishment will lead them into their first professional checkpoint that will culminate in long careers as Rice alumni.
No matter the path taken, all graduates can agree that the Rice experience has played a pivotal role in helping shape their futures as Owls in the workforce.
Anibal Tafur
Anbial Tafur, who hails from Peru, received his doctoral degree in civil engineering during the commencement ceremony Dec. 10.
Tafur was recently hired as a senior consultant in transportation and infrastructure resilience at WSP USA Inc .
“I support clients who want to know their risk in terms of natural hazards and infrastructure,” Tafur said. “There’s the numerical analysis and the analytical part of the job, but there’s also how to translate that into actionable information. That part really attracted me.”
Tafur credited his interactions with faculty members and the interdisciplinary research at Rice as primary reasons for his success.
“In my field, you need to have a little bit of everything, and you have to interact with so many people from so many fields,” he said. “I think this is the ideal setting for that.”
When asked about his favorite aspects of being a student at Rice, he was quick to answer: “The international community for sure,” he said.
“There are lots of international students here, so it’s very easy to bond and socialize. You don’t feel as homesick or as isolated socially.”
Kennedy Gamble
Kennedy Gamble, a former Rice track and field athlete from Houston, received her Master of Business Administration. She has a job lined up with JLL Commercial Real Estate.
“I’ll be doing office tenant reps, specifically helping office tenants find office space around Houston,” Gamble said.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University, Gamble enrolled in the MBA program at Rice.
“I wanted to take a lot of those skills I learned and put it with real estate,” she said. “I felt like commercial real estate was really going to challenge me that way.
“When I had the opportunity to join the MBA (program) at Rice, it really meshed well with me working with corporate companies and using the lessons I learned to make sure I’m helping the companies get the best bang for their buck and help them to continue to grow.”
Gamble said her experience at Rice, especially as a student-athlete, helped mold her into the person she is today, ready to attack the challenges her field has to offer.
“Rice has been instrumental in helping me to network, helping me to grow as a person and helping me to really find the things that I’m good at,” she said.
Ethan Powell
Ethan Powell, a former Rice football player from Chula Vista, California, received a master’s degree in accounting from the Jones Graduate School of Business. Powell recently accepted a job offer at KPMG Houston.
“I had an internship at KPMG, and the more classes I took here, the more I fell in love with it and I found more passion in it as I went along,” he said.
Powell said he especially enjoyed the environment created by his classmates and professors at Rice.
“Everyone encouraging me to not just get the best grades but also leave here with the best education possible really set me up to have as much success as I can in the accounting field,” he said.
Powell played football at Southwestern University during his undergraduate years before playing tight end for two years at Rice as a graduate student.
“I personally loved it,” he said. “I was busy from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at night, but I wouldn’t have changed it.
“I met great people along the way, and just learning and getting to know a lot of these guys who are also going to have great success in the future has been great. Essentially, I’ve gotten to network with my best friends, both on the field and in the classroom.”
Lydia Wu-Chung
Houston’s Lydia Wu-Chung received her doctoral degree in psychological sciences. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, aspiring to become a tenure-track professor.
Wu-Chung said Rice provided her with ample opportunities that have set her up for success, whether it’s through mentoring undergraduate students, conducting research studies or writing grants.
“Rice has given me a lot of opportunities to do independent research,” she said. “I’ve had really supportive advisers and collaborators who have taught me how to do collaborative research and at the same time be able to do all the things a professor would do as far as mentoring students.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”
Jonah Doddridge
Jonah Doddridge from Southlake, Texas, received his bachelor’s degree in business finance. He will now look to begin commodity trading at Vitol, an energy and commodities company in Houston.
“Today is a pivotal moment in my life and a lot of hard work coming to fruition,” he said. “Rice has been amazing to me and my family, and I’ve made lifelong friends here. It’s just been amazing for my professional development but also for my mental well-being as well.”
Doddridge said he started a summer internship at an energy company, which piqued his interest in the oil and gas industry.
“I wanted to try to go to the best commodity trading house in the world, and Rice enabled me to do that,” he said. “Like a lot of people say, Rice will get you into doors that you can’t get in on your own, but it’s on you to close it from there. Rice 100% got me in the door at Vitol, and I’m forever grateful for that.”
To watch the full ceremony, click here.