Engineering Fellow, ECE student Mu strengthens Purdue student connections to alumni
Jessica Mu was lauded as "representing the very best of what it means to be a Purdue engineer” in a nomination letter for Purdue Engineering Fellows.
Mu was also noted to be a good role model for new and prospective students, both of which she regularly encounters through the Purdue Student Engineering Foundation (PSEF). Her creation of a welcoming presence at Purdue University set her apart as an impressive and inspirational leader. As president of PSEF, Mu created new initiatives and immersed herself in the first-year experience, giving new students connections to alumni and an idea of what their future holds.
For those reasons, Mu was selected as one of seven Engineering Fellows in September 2024.
It all started with a cluster of large student portraits in the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering.
The wall was a typical sight for Mu as she walked to and from class in the fall of 2021. The wall celebrated the 2021 Engineering Fellows for their innovation and accomplishments, both impacting the Purdue community and the world with their ideas and teamwork.
Mu joined PSEF the spring semester in 2022, ready to make her mark. What she wasn’t expecting was to encounter a face she recognized from the Engineering Fellows wall at the first meeting.
Angie Zhang, a senior, was a PSEF tour guide and College of Engineering ambassador, exactly whom Mu hoped she would find at Purdue University. Zhang had an impressive array of community and research achievements. Mu was beyond impressed.
“To meet someone who has done so much for the college and have her be my direct mentor left me starstruck,” Mu said.
Mu had no idea that she would become that inspiring mentor for others in just a few short years.
Real support
Mu’s parents were civil engineers, which gave her insight into how important engineering was, but she wanted something different. Something that she found more “challenging” than what she knew.
The rigorous curriculum within the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering certainly met Mu’s goal. After transitioning into the major, Mu failed the first exam in ECE 20002 (Electrical Engineering Fundamentals II). Confident it was a fluke, she studied more intently. She still worried, but Mu was well-versed in the material this time. Or so she thought.
She was “disheartened” to fail for the second consecutive time.
“I kept it internal for a while,” Mu said. “I tend to put a lot of criticism on myself when I fail, and I think that was the first time I learned that other people aren't going to see it the same way. Making that call to my parents, they were so understanding and supportive, which was something I wasn't expecting.”
Mu was surprised to learn that her junior and senior peers in PSEF had fared similarly at the start of their majors. Their support, alongside her parents’, helped Mu find and use resources at Purdue weekly, and even daily, to grasp and retain what she studied.
“Freshman year I lived in the resource rooms,” Mu said. “We have so many great structured resource opportunities, but at the end of the day at Purdue, your peers are always going to be your best resource. No one’s ever alone in Purdue Engineering.”
The sentiment was part of what brought Mu to PSEF. The organization, founded in 1995, provides programs that connect students, alumni and communities around Purdue to one another. These initiatives include tours with prospective students, mentorship for new students, career panels and networking nights. Mu was involved in all of them, especially enthusiastic about engaging prospective students on their college decision journeys.
Mu encountered alumni through her time as the student organization’s industrial relations committee director. It was then, even in the “well-oiled machine” that is PSEF, that Mu noticed a gap in alumni outreach.
“We do a really good job at sharing the Purdue Engineering experience when you're on campus,” Mu said. “What about after? That's why you're going to college, right? To set yourself up for the success afterwards.”
Mu set to work making the solution a reality when she became PSEF president in 2023, and PSEF Alumni Coordinated Engineering Recruitment (PACER) was implemented in the spring of 2024.
“PACER gives prospective students the opportunity to connect with an alum and see where a Purdue Engineering degree takes them (after graduation),” Mu said. “A lot of our alumni have had a lot of fun putting their old hats back on and getting reengaged with outreach. It's really cool to make an impact for people beyond campus itself. That was one opportunity I wanted to create.”
Prospective students are connected to Purdue alumni in the students’ home area through PACER. PSEF facilitates the connection, and the student is encouraged to ask questions about the alum’s experience and career. The program reaches students who may not be able to visit West Lafayette for a campus tour or students who have seen Purdue but have more questions before they make a decision.
The impact was noticeable to David Bowker, director of the Office of Future Engineers, from the beginning of PACER.
“Jessica's efforts doubled the number of alumni contracts from 150 to over 300,” Bowker said, “and there is now a collection system for future directors to utilize.”
Leading with passion
2022 PSEF president Sam Dlott (BSECE ’23) had told Mu to remember one thing about leading: The term goes by very quickly. If she wanted to make an impact, she had to do it from day 1.
Mu took that to heart. Bowker said she took only three months of her yearlong presidency to take PACER from an idea to a reality.
Leading PSEF demanded a lot of Mu’s time, and she was already busy with a full class schedule and other clubs. But Mu was excited. She tackled two major leadership roles (PSEF and Purdue Equestrian team) with a fervor to learn and improve.
“It was cool to lead two very different organizations,” Mu said. “They supplemented each other and taught me a lot about balance, how diverse campus is and how rewarding it is to give back to a group of people that has given you so much. I'm so thankful I got to do that for not just one organization but two.”
In PSEF, Mu thrived in creating networking and community opportunities. In equestrian team, of which she was simultaneously president, she used an entirely different side of her brain to not only connect with agricultural students but also train, show and care for a horse. She mentored through the Women in Engineering Program’s Mentees & Mentors Program and helped with conferences and service through Purdue Mortar Board, demonstrating the outstanding and constant leadership that the honor society is known for.
The communities surrounding Mu were the most impactful parts of her passion-driven leadership. Both taught her the importance of sleep through the consistent demands of early mornings and long days. But Mu remained energized. These were her passions, after all.
“When you really care about a team or project or an organization, you have ideas about how it could be better because you would like to be a part of it in its better form,” Mu said. “That's how I ended up in those roles and why I was able to finish the projects I started.
“Being able to help out with programs that reach pre-college students and help them in one of the biggest decisions they make as a student is really important to me. There are (first-year students) who will approach me and say, ‘You gave me my tour. You're the reason why I came to Purdue,’ and that's pretty crazy to have impacted someone’s academic experience that much.”
She continues to interact with prospective students and current students alike as a co-president of the Purdue Engineering Presidents’ Council, an additional role under her PSEF presidency, and as a College of Engineering ambassador. Nathan Engelberth was thrilled to have Mu join the ambassadors after watching her grow and thrive in PSEF.
“Jessica Mu is a creative problem-solver, a respected leader and a dedicated advocate for her organizations which have direct positive impacts on the College of Engineering,” Engelberth, the ambassadors’ advisor, wrote in a nomination letter. “She commands the respect of her peers, and her innovative initiatives have had a significant impact.”
As much of herself as Mu shares with others, she kept her Engineering Fellows recognition mostly to herself. She mentioned it to Zhang (BSAAE ’21) casually — it was a full-circle moment for both — but by the end of the day, PSEF members found Mu and delivered flowers, a handmade card and heartfelt congratulations.
“People care about me personally, and my success was worth as much as their own,” Mu said. “To have people be invested in you is what gets you through those highs and lows. They’re there for you to lean on in the lows, and in the highs they’re always there to celebrate you.
“I like to explain (college) as a sine curve. You know there's going to be high days, in-between days, the low days. You know it always goes back up.”
