Emily Chang
B.S. Chemical Engineering, UCLA 2024
Master’s Student, École Supérieure des Agricultures
Intern, Lactalis Nestlé Ultra-Frais
“Happiness is a bike and a baguette.”
After graduating from UCLA Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 2024, Emily Chang moved to Angers, France, to pursue a master’s degree in food manufacturing engineering at École Supérieure des Agricultures. Since then, her path has taken her through several regions of France and into the world of food production. Last year, she interned at an artisanal cheese factory in the countryside near Grenoble, Isère. She is now interning at a dessert and crème fraîche factory with Lactalis Nestlé Ultra-Frais in Bayeux, Normandy. Along the way, she has been biking through different regions, trying local dishes and desserts, and reading French literature.
At UCLA, Emily was known for helping build community within CBE. She started Chemical Quarterly, the department newsletter, during her first year on campus after meeting students and professors across the department and taking CBE-specific classes for the first time.
“I wanted a way to highlight the accomplishments of the department,” Emily said. “And I wanted to do it in a way that allowed me to exercise my creativity and communication skills, to get to really know my peers and the work they did.”
Her hope was that the newsletter would become something the department looked forward to at the end of each quarter: eye-catching, informative, fun to read, and centered on the people who make UCLA CBE special. “I also wanted the community to have pride in their accomplishments and show them, like, Hey! The people making this newsletter noticed your work, and now the entire department and alumni know about it too!” she said.
As a former alumni chair, Emily also saw the newsletter as a way to keep alumni connected to the department and to the sense of community they experienced as students. Emily later served as a graduation speaker, an experience she describes as an honor. After four years of studying, learning, and growing alongside her classmates, she had the chance to address them, their families, and their professors before moving far from Los Angeles. The speech became especially personal the night before graduation, when she rewrote the ending to better capture the bittersweet feeling of saying goodbye. “In a year marked by the rise of AI and LLMs, it also felt a lot more pertinent that I put the work in to write something that mattered to my classmates,” she said. “That these words and sentiments really did come from me.”
Some of Emily’s favorite UCLA CBE memories include attending Lunches with Professors to hear about faculty members’ professional and personal journeys, and sprinting down Boelter Hall during an AIChE scavenger hunt. Her UCLA CBE training has also served her well in France. Technical classes such as fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and thermodynamics have helped her in her current master’s program, even while learning in another language.
Her student leadership experiences have also carried forward. Through AIChE and Chemical Quarterly, Emily learned to reach out, collaborate, and ask questions; skills that continue to help her in new environments. “I can be pretty shy at times, especially in new settings,” she said. “But I’ve never regretted asking the people around me to explain a concept or help me with my projects.”
Her advice to current UCLA CBE students is to stay open. “Don’t be afraid to try different opportunities, even if you’re not sure what they’ll lead to,” Emily said. “Eventually, you’ll find something that lights up your brain, that both excites and frustrates you, that inspires you to go further and grow. I am always chasing that feeling in whatever it is that I do.”
She also encourages students to stay curious about the people around them. “You can always learn something new from them,” she said.
From UCLA CBE to food manufacturing in France, Emily’s path reflects the many directions a chemical engineering education can lead; and the power of curiosity, creativity, and community along the way.