Before traveling to Malawi last summer to take part in an Engineers Without Borders project, Abigail Johnson had never traveled outside of the United States. During this “once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she worked to design and implement a water distribution and sanitation system at a local school. 

Prior to the launch of their project, the school had no on-site source of water. Students and staff had to walk half a kilometer several times a day to get water for the school, significantly disrupting the educational experience and contributing to sickness caused by poor hygiene.  

“The community emphasized how excited they were for these projects,” says Johnson. “They’ve said that it has made a huge difference by keeping the students in school, hydrated, and hygienic.”   

Johnson was grateful for the opportunity to test and refine her technical skills in a real-world setting. But just as importantly, the experience helped her develop her communication skills and gave her a better sense of the impact she wants to make in her future career. 

“The main reason I wanted to go into engineering was because I wanted to help people,” she says. “[In Malawi] I did a lot of community engagement … it was amazing to see how much our engineering really impacted their day-to-day lives.” 

Finding her path

Growing up in Bemidji, Minnesota, Johnson knew from an early age that she wanted to be an engineer. In high school, she was on the robotics team and in the math league, and she took every engineering class available to her. 

When the time came to choose a college, the University of Minnesota was the clear choice—the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) has an excellent reputation, she says. 

Johnson has enjoyed all of her classes at the U so far, but she says the class focused on the fundamentals of design and manufacturing in the mechanical engineering field really stands out in her mind. 

“It was a lot of fun for me because we got to do all the math and engineering behind designing a structure or product, but then we also got to go into a lab and actually manufacture things,” she says. “I think that’s so important as an engineer—to see what you’re designing and how it’s implemented in the long run.”

Opportunities everywhere

Over the past few years at the U, Johnson has made a name for herself in CSE. She holds leadership positions in the U of M chapters of Engineers Without Borders and the Society of Women Engineers, and this fall she was admitted into the integrated master’s degree program for mechanical engineering, which will allow her—because of both the integrated track and college credits she had earned in high school—to get her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in four years total. 

Looking to the future, Johnson is considering a career focused on sustainable product design and development, possibly in the medical device industry. However, her interests are wide-ranging, and she’s keeping an open mind about what comes next. 

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In the meantime, Johnson is enjoying her remaining time at the U and is grateful for the scholarship support she’s received, including the Herbert E. Olson Memorial Scholarship.

“I’ve been able to do so many more things … because I don’t necessarily have to work during the school year,” she says. “With all the opportunities my scholarships have given me, I’ve really tried to take advantage and do everything I could.”

And Johnson is confident she made the right choice by choosing the U. 
    
“There are so many opportunities here, whether it’s in a research lab or jobs in the city,” she says. “And even though the U is a large school, it feels like a very tight-knit community, especially in your individual majors. That’s something I really do love about the U of M.”