Allison DeGraff followed in her father’s footsteps as she entered the mechanical engineering technology program at Alfred State. Her experiences led her to National Grid where she is currently a senior engineer.
“My dad was a mechanical engineer. I thought all the work that he did was just so interesting. I started getting into math and science and even some CAD stuff in high school and I had an interest in it. I moved forward with it and still love it.”
Allison's PioneerPROfile video
Heading into her final semester, Allison had a job already lined up with National Grid. “I started with their graduate development program and then went into design and engineering for their natural gas in upstate New York. Recently I changed to a new job with integrated planning and solutions on the electrical engineering side.”
Allison feels Alfred State had her prepared to jump right into her career. “We learned so many different topics and there was a lot of hands-on learning in the program that allowed me to pick things up quickly.”
“The hands-on learning bridges the gap with the theory so that when you are working in the field for your job, you already have that base to build off of.”
Allison comes back to campus to guide current students in their senior projects. “Alfred was such a big stepping stone into my career, and it just gave me such a great base to build from. I want to give that to the future workforce and students here.”
Being involved in clubs like robotics and the Baja car are her favorite memories. “There's everything that you can imagine and so many different groups of people to participate and interact with.”
Alfred State gave Allison the tools and now she has the power.