Roger Williams University: Engineering Student Leader Gains Valuable Skills Through Mentorship, Involvement

Press release from Roger Williams University:

By Matthew Milotakis ’25

December 9, 2024

BRISTOL, R.I. – Through her many on- and off-campus involvements, junior Maria Mangiameli has emerged as a confident and accomplished student leader. An Electrical Engineering and Digital Systems Computer Science double major and Mathematics minor from North Andover, Mass., she holds leadership roles in several student organizations, including vice president of Engineers Without Borders and the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and secretary of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). These positions have allowed her to make meaningful connections and hone her technical skills.

Building on her on-campus experiences, Mangiameli secured an internship with Rhode Island Energy as a distribution, planning, and asset management engineer. With guidance from Mary Santoro at RWU’s Center of Career and Professional Development (CCPD), who introduced her to the Buzzfile platform that was promoting the training, she found an opportunity that aligned with her career aspirations. The internship played a crucial role in defining who she has become as an aspiring professional engineer.

It’s these experiences that Mangiameli credits with instilling her passion for helping people while benefiting from strong mentorship at Roger William University.

Real World Learning: “At Rhode Island Energy, I completed different tasks assigned to me throughout the day, which mainly involved helping clients transfer from National Grid. Through this experience, I learned the importance of communication and having a personable personality. Something else I learned is that the best thing to do is ask questions. They want to help you progress and help you get to that end goal that you’re working towards.”

Leadership Skills: “The main thing about engineering is being able to work with others and collaborate. It’s such a big part of what the community does and what this discipline requires. I joined Engineers Without Borders to help people because that’s why I wanted to be an engineer. I wanted to contribute the skills that I picked up back to the people, to society. And I was shy in high school, so I felt this role would help me develop my communication skills and be more confident in what I’m saying.

For IEEE, I joined to expand my knowledge of specific electrical components that I wanted to learn about. One of the reasons I became a mathematics tutor is because I believe one way to build your knowledge is by teaching other people. Being a tutor allows us to work through problems together and helps me grow my own knowledge. There have been instances where I have no idea what’s going on here, but we’ve worked through it together and were able to figure it out. So that’s always very rewarding.”

Peer Mentorship: “My biggest role model is one of my peers, Cassandra Mastroianni, a senior Civil Engineering major and current president of Engineers Without Borders who’s really sweet. She exemplifies and demonstrates how to be a leader. She’s always looking out for me, making sure I’m not doing too much, and just having wellness checks with me. She’s also just a really smart person who’s able to manage her time well and just talk with people. She’s whom I’ve looked up to since my first-year here.”

This press release was produced by the Roger Williams University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.