All roads eventually lead to Valpo – and each student takes their own path. When Alex Miroballi ’27 graduated high school, they weren’t really looking to go away to college. During their senior year, they decided the best route would be to take a gap year before fully committing to a four-year university – while taking a few courses as a visiting student at a four-year university close to home in Aurora, Illinois. This essential time for growth and exploration was the start of Alex’s journey to Valparaiso University.
“A son of one of my mom’s colleagues had gone to Valpo for engineering. I heard her saying a lot of great things about the program – and Valpo having an environmental engineering program was appealing, too. That’s not a very common program to offer,” Alex shares. “I’ve always enjoyed learning about the environment. … [The field] is very much about securing a safe future for younger generations. … Sometimes we’re cleaning up messes from back when we didn’t fully understand what we were doing. … It’s all so future generations can enjoy what we have now.”
Not only was Alex able to dive directly into courses related to their field upon transferring to Valpo, but they were also met with a close-knit cohort of classmates who share the same passion. “Right now, there are four environmental engineering students in the program. So, we pretty much have had all of the same classes and see each other almost every day. We’ve become friends – which is nice, too, because a lot of classes have some group project or group component,” Alex says.
Alex has also been able to build strong relationships with their professors – including Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Juan Carlos Ramirez Dorronsoro, Ph.D., with whom they researched ambient air pollution monitoring last summer. The goal: to compare the effectiveness of various monitoring systems – for the detection of particulate matter, in particular. “It’s a very broad topic. Air pollution is very complicated, so there was a lot to learn just to understand what we were looking at,” Alex explains. “But, I was able to ask questions and it felt more like a conversation than a lecture. The experience was catered to my interests, so the more I was interested in something, the more information I was given about it, and the more I was invited to work on those things. … It was very cool and interesting to have that opportunity!”
Outside of academics – in which Alex has flourished – the largest hurdle of their transfer experience was adjusting to life away from home. Luckily, though, they were still able to find their footing. “Even that wasn’t too big of a transition. There’s a community on campus that makes it easy to have something to do with your time and not think so much about being far from home.” Their advice for someone just beginning their college journey, or transferring to Valpo like they had, is just that: Don’t be afraid to get involved. “It’s definitely worth trying to figure out what you’re interested in beyond just your major. Be confident in your major, for sure – but don’t be worried if you discover something new and change your mind. It’s much easier to get through the harder parts of [college] when you’re generally interested and invested in what you’re doing,” Alex advises.
Some organizations that Alex has gotten involved with are the University Programming Council (UPC) – with which they helped plan some of campus’ most highly-anticipated student events – and Valpo Robotics, with whom they added the exploration of underwater robotics to their resume. Alex also organized the creation of Valpo’s first chapter of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES) – a professional, collaborative space for environmental engineering students. “There wasn’t really a professional organization on campus for environmental engineers,” Alex says, “so we wanted to create one for our major that we could get involved with [as students] and stay connected to after we graduate.” The launch was a success, with AAES hosting a variety of sustainable activities – from newspaper flowers for Valentine’s Day to a terrarium workshop – for students across campus, with a few gardening initiatives in the works.
Another key area of Alex’s Valpo experience that allowed them to express and engage in a different sector of academic excellence was Christ College – The Honors College. Christ College is an alternative to Valpo’s general education requirements that brings deeper thinking, philosophy, and ethics to the forefront. “Christ College seminar classes are very different from engineering classes. It’s a nice break from the very science- and math-heavy coursework,” Alex reflects. Yet, many of Alex’s Christ College courses dove into topics they could easily apply to their broader engineering studies. In their science, technology, and society seminar last semester, the two spheres of study intertwined, offering a deeper, more human-focused approach to a career path that is usually centered around numbers. It’s a perspective that Alex will carry with them into their future career. “One of the things we study a lot in environmental engineering is how people interact with the environment. Everything we do is a response to people interacting with the environment – or anticipating how they’ll interact with the environment,” they point out. “So, having the ability to consider how people think and feel about something – more than just that they live there in a statistical way – offers another perspective for dealing with potential [environmental] problems that could come up.”
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in environmental engineering like Alex, this is your sign to join a movement for the future of our world. Engineer a brighter, greener future for all at valpo.edu/environmental-engineering.
