Riley Chichester

Riley Chichester is developing the future — for building sites, her career and her fellow students’ engineering journeys. A junior in civil and environmental engineering from Suwanee, Georgia, she has been involved in student organizations and completed an internship in site development, all while helping younger engineering students as a peer advisor.  

Why Auburn

“My campus tour at Auburn is what made the difference. The Cupola Ambassadors did a great job of showing me the engineering school, seeing the facilities and the culture. Auburn really loves and supports their engineers. I felt this was a place where I could succeed, and now, Auburn has really built me into the engineer that I want to be.”

Why engineering

“An environmental science class in high school made me realize that I wanted to go into the environmental and sustainability fields of engineering. It was cool to see how different engineering fields, including civil engineering’s work in infrastructure, come together to improve the environment. The cupola ambassador who led my tour was also a woman in civil engineering, so I could see myself in her place. I saw how successful she was and how she was doing an amazing job of inspiring future students, and I really wanted to become like her.”

Involvement and internships

“I work as a peer advisor for pre-engineering students, helping freshman and sophomores on their engineering journey. I would often come to peer advising when I was an underclassman, so now I’m the one helping younger students develop their futures. I also work with the American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter and the Alpha Omega Epsilon sorority, which is both a professional and social sorority of female engineering and technical science students.

“Last summer, I got to work as a civil intern for Kimley-Horn in Midtown, Atlanta. It was a cool experience to practice being a civil analyst and dive into the site development aspects of civil engineering.”

Future plans

“I’m planning to specialize in structural engineering, and after I graduate, I’m hoping to go back to Kimley-Horn and continue working on-site in Atlanta because I loved working in that area. I’m interested in going other places and seeing how the industry looks in different areas, but wherever I go I want to continue working in site development.”