Paying It Forward
“I want to elevate Black women who are hardworking and have the drive
to become chemical engineers.”
Michelle Mason, ChE 1986, has come full circle in her Georgia Tech experience. A dual-degree student, Mason earned a bachelor’s in chemistry from Spelman College in 1985 while also pursuing a chemical engineering degree from the Institute. Now, she mentors dual-degree students on a volunteer basis via her employer, ExxonMobil.
Mason finds this volunteer work “rewarding, since many of the students are first-generation college students,” she said. “Mentorship is important because it allows me to offer suggestions/recommendations that help enhance students’ engineering trajectory. This may come in the form of guidance with summer internship decisions, full-time employment, engineering school selection, and other challenges related to transitioning from a historically Black college or university to an engineering school,” Mason said.
The youngest of six children, Mason grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where her parents were entrepreneurs and served the community for over 20 years. In addition to her undergraduate degrees, Mason earned an MBA from the University of Memphis in 2003. Although grateful for her entire education, Mason said “Georgia Tech made me the person I am — compassionate,
resilient, and determined.”
Mason decided to pay it forward through a generous planned gift to Georgia Tech, which will support scholarships for Black women pursuing chemical engineering degrees. “I’d like to help recipients pursue their studies without having to take on part-time jobs to pay for tuition and living expenses,” she explained. “I also want to elevate women who are good students with the capability of becoming engineers, but who may not have a 3.0 or higher grade point average.”