It’s no secret that an engineering degree often yields exciting and well-paid careers. The College of Engineering at the University of Rhode Island has long been producing global engineers that do just that. Carrie Ellis, MS ’25, had many options, but chose to forgo an industry career and instead chase a dream to work for a non-profit organization.
Following URI graduation in spring 2023, with bachelor’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering and Spanish, Ellis continued her education at URI by enrolling in graduate school. She will earn a master’s in civil and environmental engineering in May, but she’s already accepted an offer for her dream job with Engineers Without Borders USA. She was selected from more than 200 applicants.
“I feel lucky there were a lot of things that fell into place for me to be offered this position and I recognize that,” said Ellis. That’s not to say that it didn’t take hard work to get there. Ellis, of Hatfield, Massachusetts, played varsity soccer at URI as an undergraduate. She also tutored fellow student athletes while balancing the workload of a double major. Ellis credits small class sizes, undergraduate lab time and access to faculty for presenting her opportunities to discover her interests. “My junior year I was taking environmental engineering with Dr. Goodwill and I just realized I wanted to follow a career path like his. I really connected with the work he’d done previously and is now doing now but had no idea how to get there. I went into his office hours and basically said “how do I do what you do?” and he listened to my goals and aspirations, and we made a plan for how I may achieve them.”
Together with civil and environmental engineering associate professor Joe Goodwill, Ellis founded the URI student chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB). The nonprofit organization leverages engineering while partnering with communities and local non-governmental organizations to deliver solutions that are environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. Their approach to sustainability is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The organization has student and professional chapters throughout the world.
Sustainability inspired Ellis to pursue engineering, so she was very proud to bring the organization to the University, and even prouder in the amount of interest of her fellow classmates and support from the college. She served as the founding president and continued her involvement into graduate school. She will now work at the very organization that inspired the chapter.
After graduation, Ellis was eager to continue her research and decided to pursue a master’s degree. “I have always loved learning and liked school. The jobs I was interested in within sustainability are super niche with very few full-time positions, so I felt that furthering my education in the area would increase my chances of being qualified for a job in that field,” said Ellis. “My research in the lab is adjacent to humanitarian engineering and international development so it provided me experience in that sector.”
“Carrie encapsulates the best features of higher education.”Civil and Environmental professor Joe Goodwill
Ellis continued to work with Goodwill to find opportunities that would provide her skills and knowledge for success in the humanitarian workforce. “I’m very grateful for his leadership and belief in me,” said Ellis.
“Carrie encapsulates the best features of higher education. She had a big goal to make a positive impact on the world. We laid out a plan for how she might achieve this, and she worked hard and made the most of every opportunity. EWB is lucky to have her, and the Water for the World Lab is very proud,” said Goodwill.
Last summer, Ellis was selected for a remote internship with EWB-USA. She requested to extend it past the summer because she enjoyed the work so much. “The people are incredible, and I was learning so much. I was able to really demonstrate my skills and build relationships,” added Ellis. As an intern, she worked with the International Community Programs team in developing a new department-wide partnership model. She conducted research and analysis of 123 NGO partners across 26 countries and developed a report as well as collected feedback from community partners and provided insights into strengths and weaknesses within the project processes and partnership model.
A job for a full-time position opened within the organization last winter and Ellis applied. “I knew I loved the organization, and their entire staff just has so much passion. I knew I wanted to be a part of that,” said Ellis.
The roles are coveted, and competition is fierce, but Ellis secured the job as an international program coordinator at the group’s Denver headquarters.
Ellis is looking forward to all the work she can achieve with the organization and will be relocating to Denver following graduation this spring.
“I felt that furthering my education in the area would increase my chances of being qualified for a job in that field”Carrie Ellis MS ’25