Why Auburn: India Warren

India Warren came to Auburn from San Antonio, Texas, looking for the resources of a major university without giving up a close-knit campus experience. She found both, earning her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering summa cum laude before choosing Auburn again to pursue a master’s degree in structural engineering.

Why Auburn

“I knew I wanted to go to an SEC school because I love sports, but I also wanted that small-school feel with large-school resources. Auburn really answered that for me.”

“When I visited, I was able to meet one-on-one with people in the civil engineering department and really get to know the program I would be entering. I also got to meet with Jessica Taylor, director of Recruiting and Scholarships in the Recruitment, Outreach and Scholarship office. Those personal interactions were really pivotal in helping me choose Auburn.”

Finding a home away from home

“I was a major homebody coming out of high school. Before Auburn, I had only been away from home for about a week at a time, not to mention that I had never been on a plane before. Then I got dropped off here knowing I wouldn’t see my family for six weeks to two months. I just had to do it scared.

“It took me a while to get over that initial homesickness, but I got involved and started finding my community. Eventually, I stopped counting down the days until I could go home. I was doing well in my engineering classes, but I was also meeting friends and finding my place outside the classroom.

“Auburn is really good at helping you find your people. That was important to me because I was so far from home.”

Cupola

“I wanted to get involved in the College of Engineering, and Cupola Engineering Ambassadors gave me a way to do that while helping prospective students. Being from out of state, I knew how valuable it could be to hear from someone who had made that same decision and could share that perspective.

“Cupola helped me develop my communication skills and learn how to talk to all kinds of people. This past year, I served as director of selections and helped choose the next group of engineering tour guides. It has been one of the greatest parts of my college experience.”

Undergraduate research

“I wasn’t initially interested in research, but when my Intro to Engineering professor, Jack Montgomery, the Alice H. and John M. Ozier associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, asked if anyone would be willing to join a project, I knew I had to jump on the opportunity. I told him, ‘I don’t know how to do any of this yet, but I’m willing to help if you can teach me.’

“That got me involved in geotechnical research, where we were looking at landslides and slope stability on a small scale. From there, I was able to explore different areas of civil engineering. I was initially interested in construction, but after internships in both transportation and structural engineering, I realized that structural engineering was the best fit for me.

“That opportunity to try different things helped me figure out what I actually wanted to do.”

Why Auburn Again?

“When I started looking at graduate school, I considered going back to Texas and looking at places like UT Austin or Texas A&M. But after reaching out to professors here at Auburn, Matthew Yarnold, professor of structural engineering and director of the Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory, proposed a fully funded research opportunity that I was really interested in, enabling me to pursue my graduate degree while performing research and gaining hands-on experience at a state-of-the-art research facility.

“I already knew the faculty, I was interested in the research, and I knew what Auburn had to offer. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”