 Bob
Au
Engineer
Procter & Gamble
Cincinnati, OH
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 B.S. - Chemistry & Economics, University of Pennsylvania
M.S. - Chemical Engineering, Purdue University
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Engineer working in product development; basically the research and
development group at Procter & Gamble that is responsible for creating and
improving all of P&G's products. |
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"I'm a strong believer
that getting as many different experiences as you can will do nothing but
help you." |
 
"Right
now, I'm working in product development which is basically the research
and development group which is responsible for creating and improving all
the products that Procter & Gamble makes. My current project is to develop
a new shampoo formulation. On a day-to-day basis, I do a variety of
different things from product technical testing to designing and executing
consumer tests for some of the, product prototypes that we've developed to
doing things like one-on-one interviews with panelists."
Q: How did your education get you where
you are?
Au: My academic background is kind of unique.
I got my bachelor's in chemistry and economics, primarily because I always
felt that I wanted to get involved in technical management. I thought the
two would give me the right background to do that. But, when I was getting
close to finishing up my undergraduate degree, I really felt that I was
lacking the stronger technical background. What I found that I really
liked about the chemical sciences was taking the pieces of knowledge that
I learned in the classroom and applying them. That led me toward chemical
engineering. So I decided to go to Purdue and work on my Master's. Having
that diverse background really helps me on the job, because the job
requires diverse skills. I was able to get formal training in a bunch of
different areas, but along the way I really got exposure to a lot of other
different things, including the student organizations and academic
disciplines that I was involved in. One thing that I really gained from
grad school was the first opportunity to work on a really complex
technical project. I had to write a thesis to do my Master's, and the
experience of having to work on a project for two years to solve a really
complex problem really prepared me for the type of job that I now have. It
taught me how to dissect problems and do research effectively.
Q: Did your business background help you?
Au: I'm a strong believer that getting as
many different experiences as you can will do nothing but help you. My
long-term interests are to be involved in technical management. In order
to do that, you have to understand two things: how technology works, and
what that can translate to in terms of the business and its impact on the
company. Having the diverse background that I have really helps me to
understand both sides of the business.
Q: Did you have any kind of specific career guidance in either
undergraduate or graduate school?
Au: I had a lot of career guidance when I was
an undergraduate. We had a pretty good career guidance department. It had
a very large database of information on graduate schools. That's where I
first became interested in chemical engineering and found out about the
different chemical engineering schools. The fact that they were willing to
accept people with my background-being nontraditional and not having the
bachelor's in chemical engineering-into their school, led me to decide to
pursue a degree in chemical engineering. The other thing it helped me with
was that they were very good at keeping information on file about
internships. My junior year I did an internship at a consumer products
company. The experience that summer really developed my interest in that
type of business. That's part of the reason why I looked at Procter &
Gamble when I was doing my job search.
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